


Death And All  His Friends

by ComingandGoingByBubble



Category: The Wicked Years Series - Gregory Maguire, Wicked - All Media Types, Wicked - Schwartz/Holzman
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2016-03-21
Packaged: 2018-05-10 00:41:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 23,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5562148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComingandGoingByBubble/pseuds/ComingandGoingByBubble
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After failing her examination to become a doctor, Elphaba soon finds herself battling a number of obstacles that include a deadly disease on the rampage, her fiance's secretive job as Captain of The Guard, her best friend falling in love with her, and an accusation that could destroy her life forever. Based off of NBC's Dracula. Victorian Era.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter One:

Focus.

Focus.

Don't look at anyone else in the room.

Elphaba took a breath and held the scalpel in one hand over the dead body on the table in front of her. Her instructions were simple, Dr. Nikidik had said them out loud and very clearly almost a minute ago. She understood everything that was being asked of her, she had been preparing for this moment all of her life, especially the last six years with Dr. Dillamond as her mentor, and ex-teacher. Though some would say that he was just "The Old Goat" as they referred to him as in the medical world, Elphaba thought he was brilliant. She had been studying under his wing ever since her first semester at Shiz and today was the day that she could finally prove to everyone that she had what it takes.

Today was finally the day that she could really call herself a doctor.

All she had to do was pass this test.

Elphaba knew as soon as she made the first incision that there would be no turning back. As soon as she cut into this body her test would start.

For a moment, Elphaba was slightly overwhelmed. Her green fingers twitched as she held her scalpel. Her dark eyes glanced up to the silent room full of her peers, all male, and she quickly looked back down at the body in front of her. She could feel their energy, their hungering for her to fail but she would not let them win. She was prepared and she was more than determined to pass.

"You may begin now, Miss Thropp... unless of course, you've reconsidered your choice of profession," Dr. Nikidik commented from the gallery above where he sat with his pen and parchment, ready to record her every movement for observation.

"No, sir. I haven't reconsidered," she said sternly. A few of her classmates groaned in protest and she felt her face heat up fast and flush a darker green.

"Then, please do begin Miss Thropp or I'm afraid I'll have to fail you for wasting too much time," said Dr. Nikidik as he repositioned his spectacles on his nose so he could see her technique better.

Elphaba nodded quickly and moved to her right where she could get a clear view of the heart.

Her scalpel touched the skin lightly before she began to put pressure on the blade and saw the skin split open in a line.

Dr. Nikidik tipped over the hourglass and Elphaba's test started.

"Okay everyone, now remember that we're counting to three before we yell surprise," reminded Glinda as she scurried her party guests behind whatever furniture and objects were in the grand foyer. The noise and music slowly died down and Glinda waited in her spot for Elphaba to come.

The gorgeous grandfather clock that stood across from her ticked away the seconds and the blonde found herself constantly checking the time. Elphaba had said that her test ended around six, and it was just shy of six ten. She would be here any moment.

Glinda couldn't contain her excitement for her friend, the blonde had been grinning from ear to ear all morning, her eyes bright and anxious. This was the most important day of Elphaba's life and she couldn't wait to celebrate her success with her. Every detail down to the color of the flowers had been arranged weeks in advance by Glinda. She had spared no expense on Elphaba, clearly shown by the extravagant array of flowers and food that brought bursts of color into the mansion.

A few voices rose in the crowd and Glinda twirled around in a blur of light blue and sparkles to shush them.

Her attention returned once more to the white lacquered door that was in front of her and she waited patiently for the sound of the doorbell.

When the bell finally rang out its musical notes a few minutes later, Glinda eagerly ran to open it. Keeping one hand behind her back to signal to the guests when to shout surprise, Glinda pulled open the door with her other hand and was just about to greet Elphaba with a joyous "Congratulations!" when she took a good look at her friend's face.

There was nothing happy about her features. They were sad, defeated, meek and for the first time in Glinda's time of knowing Elphaba, she truly thought the woman was going to burst into tears.

"Elphie...?" questioned the blonde as she reached out a hand towards the woman in comfort.

Elphaba's lip trembled and she averted looking her best friend in the eyes.

She mumbled something under her breath but Glinda didn't hear it. She didn't dare ask her what was wrong, she knew that would just send Elphaba off the edge.

So instead she said in a quiet, low voice, "You didn't pass your exam, did you?"

Elphaba shook her head and Glinda could hear faint sniffling. The blonde took Elphaba's hands in her own.

"Oh, Elphie. I'm so sorry, darling! I can't imagine what you must be feeling now," Glinda put on her genuinely concerned face and thankfully not her fake sympathetic puppy dog eyes that she reserved for people who she did not care for, "I truly am sorry, Elphaba. I know how hard you worked for this day."

Elphaba swallowed hard and looked up at the blonde, giving her a quizzical look once she looked at the blonde's sparkling attire and updo.

"Do I even want to ask why you are dressed like that?" she asked hoarsely.

Glinda looked down at her outfit to quickly remind herself what she was wearing and then gave Elphaba a sad look.

"Well, it's just... I- I planned a surprise party for you... and I told everyone to dress up... I even had a dress picked out for you too and..." She twirled a few loose strands of shimmering blonde hair that had escaped the tight restraints of her bun between her fingers in despair.

"No offense, Glin, but I'm not really in the party mood," muttered Elphaba trying her best not to crush Glinda's hard work and effort.

"Of course, I completely understand... I'll send everyone home right away," the blonde complied to Elphaba's demands without so much as a pout.

She released Elphaba's hands from her grip and quietly slipped inside to tell everyone to head home and that there was no party. Elphaba saw no one exit which told her that Glinda and her parents must have directed them all out the back entrance and of that she was glad. She didn't want to have to keep telling people that she failed her test, it only made the truth sting even more.

When Glinda finally opened the door to let Elphaba in, she was relieved to see that the only people left in the mansion for her to talk to were Glinda and Fiyero. Glinda's parents had disappeared to some other room in the house to give her some privacy which was quite thoughtful of them.

Elphaba entered the Upland's mansion with the urge to shut herself away from the world for a good long time. She was in no mood to talk even with her best friend and fiance.

Her fiance immediately came over towards her and lovingly wrapped his arms around her, as if his body was a shield from the hurt she was feeling by not passing her test. She readily melted into his embrace and buried her head in his chest. They didn't say a word to each other, they didn't need to.

For a moment, the couple nearly forgot about their generous hostess, who had been awkwardly busying herself with the arrangement of a bouquet of flowers in the corner at that moment, casually stealing glances at them every once in a while. But a brief noise from the blonde, an accidental shift in her step causing a loud creak to erupt from the floorboards, separated the couple and brought them back to reality.

"Do you want to go home or would you rather stay here, my love?" asked Fiyero gently cupping her face with a hand.

Elphaba's head tilted to one side, "Quite frankly, I don't know," she said after a pause, "I guess it doesn't matter where I am."

Fiyero kissed the top of her forehead softly, "Then how about you stay here for the night? I'll be gone for most of the night anyways," he reminded her of his work schedule.

"Right, right... staying here sounds agreeable," she nodded slowly, as if she had been in a trance since her coming here.

Fiyero's eyes looked up from Elphaba's.

"Glinda, would you mind terribly if Fae stayed here for the night? I'd rather not leave her alone at this moment," he called out to the blonde.

Glinda immediately discarded her fake interest in her flowers and a bright smile highlighted her features.

"Oh, of course! She'll be in good hands here," the blonde beamed as she walked over to the couple and laced one arm through Elphaba's, leaning on her shoulder closely.

"Thank you, Glinda. I'll have to find some way to repay you another time," said Fiyero as he quickly kissed his fiancee goodbye and headed for the door.

The two women watched as he left, and when the door finally closed Glinda turned to Elphaba and took her hand.

"Come on, darling," she said softly in a caring voice, "I'll have Cook bring us some ice cream."

Elphaba followed her lead without so much as a protest, in fact she was glad to have Glinda to lean on now. She needed her smile and comfort.

"Thank you," said Elphaba softly once they both had finished their ice cream, "for everything, Glinda. I'm sorry about the party."

"It's alright," the blonde shrugged, remaining indifferent about the wasted opportunity and glittering ballgowns, "But I have an idea of how you can make it up to me."

Glinda's smile was wide with happiness and a hint of mystery and Elphaba was in no position to refuse her request whatever it was, so she reluctantly accepted and followed the blonde back to her bedroom, feeling just a little bit better about her whole situation.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

The blonde's bedroom was just about as grand and glorious as the girl was herself. Decadent with gold leafing and crown molding, rose covered wallpaper, and with a steel canopy bed to refine the elegance of the room Elphaba couldn't help but be in awe of everything she saw. But then again, everything in the Upland's mansion astonished her, it was just so godly, so rich in wealth and class it practically seeped into the air.

Elphaba felt like she was breathing in gold and fine china in this house. She sat down on Glinda's bed, which she almost immediately sank to the bottom of due to the delicate softness of the mattress, and waited for the blonde to come out of her closet with her 'special surprise'. Although she was in no mood for this, the green woman put on a good face for her friend anyways.

"You have to promise that you won't peek, and that you'll only open your eyes when I tell you to!" shouted Glinda.

"I promise," said Elphaba as she did as she was told and closed her eyes. She could hear Glinda opening the door, its hinges creaking and her light footsteps as she ventured out to probably make sure Elphaba wasn't peeking. She could barely hear the sound of something light scraping across the floor that was covered with an expensive rug.

"Alright, you can open your eyes," sang Glinda.

Elphaba opened them and went from looking at a world of darkness to looking at a dress. But this wasn't just any old dress, not like the shabby, non form fitting things she had worn all her life. This was a glamorous gown of black, but it wasn't silk for Elphaba despised silk. It looked more like a cotton material but the details of beading and other swatches of fabric and colors in it disguised its earthly beginnings. It was utterly gorgeous, perfect for what her tastes were. It looked as though it had been tailor made for her.

"Oh, Glin," breathed Elphaba slowly, "It's so beautiful."

Glinda beamed, "I told you that you would love it. Daddy had a connection in the Vinkus that was willing to make it from scratch and I thought it would be a nice change from those simple frocks you are always wearing."

Elphaba smiled and got up from the bed to look at the dress that Glinda was holding up.

"You can try it on, if you want," suggested the blonde.

Elphaba's eyes slanted, "Is that why you brought me up here? To try on a dress? Glin, you know how much I hate playing the society girl."

"I know, I know!" the blonde retracted fast, and then she twisted one foot around the other slyly, "I just thought it might cheer you up."

Elphaba sighed, and the blonde looked over at her and knew that she had won this argument.

With pursed lips the green woman snatched the dress from her best friend's hands and gave the blonde a look of disdain.

"You know that I'm only trying this dress on because I feel terrible that you had to cancel your party." Elphaba felt the need to reiterate her reasoning to the blonde once more.

Glinda just smirked as she unlaced the back of Elphaba's former dress, a disgusting, ill fitting waste of gray material and helped her into the black dress. As she slipped it on, Elphaba couldn't deny that she did feel better. Normally she hated trying on clothes, being dragged on endless shopping trips but this time was different. Elphaba could feel the dress forming to her body as Glinda tied the strings and laced up the corset.

The mirror that hung in a gold frame reflected her image. She had to say, Glinda had done good. The dress was perfect, it fit her personality and shape like a glove. She looked as though she had stepped out of a storybook. The high collar of the dress was simply outstanding and Elphaba was glad that the sleeves were tight and not puffy. Every detail of the dress was remarkable and she truly felt wonderful wearing it.

It was a pity that she didn't have an occasion to wear it to.

"I don't know how to thank you, Glinda," expressed Elphaba shyly, "This is truly exquisite."

The blonde merely smiled, "I'm glad you like it, Elphie. There is no other thanks needed."

Elphaba smiled graciously at her friend and the two linked hands.

The blonde giggled gayly and looked at her friend's reflection intently.

"You will make the most beautiful bride," sighed Glinda truthfully as she leaned her golden head onto Elphaba's shoulders and clasped her hands together like the giddy best friend she was.

"Oh, please don't start that mushy talk again or I will walk right out of here and never come back," snapped Elphaba a bit harshly.

"But, Elphaba you do look beautiful!" insisted the blonde against Elphaba's wishes, "And you will look utterly gorgeous at your wedding, especially after I'm done with you." Glinda winked.

"I think I've made a grave mistake having you as my maid of honor," Elphaba teased falsely.

"Nonsense!" dismissed Glinda with a laugh, "I'm going to make sure that your wedding is the most grandest, glorious event of the year!"

Elphaba gave her a look. The two had had many a conversation about the pomp and circumstance around her wedding, and how Elphaba desperately wanted a small, simple wedding. To which Glinda pointed out that Elphaba was marrying The Fiyero Tiggular, crown prince of the Vinkus and that her wedding would be nothing less than glamorous and the talk of the year whether she wanted it to be or not.

"Maybe Fiyero and I will just elope and not tell anyone," Elphaba said with a passe shrug.

Glinda looked heavily heartbroken at that statement, not picking up on the small hint of sarcasm that Elphaba threw into her words.

"Elphaba Thropp, don't you dare elope without at least inviting me, besides you would need a witness." Glinda added that last comment to remind her friend of her importance but it seemed to be of no avail.

"Who says you would be my witness?" joked Elphaba and this time Glinda thankfully caught the smile on her face and figured out that she was joking.

"You terrible, mean thing, don't go around scaring me like that," said Glinda as she playfully smacked Elphaba's arm.

"But it's too much fun, you're so easy to toy with, my sweet..." laughed Elphaba.

Glinda gave her a twisted smirk and laughed along with Elphaba. She was glad to see that she had gotten Elphaba's mind off of her failure today. The smile on her face said it all.

"Let's try and get some sleep now, I'm exhausted," said Glinda as she tugged on Elphaba's hand and smiled up at her.

"I'm sure you are," quipped Elphaba, "I guess standing around all day in that gown is very, very tiring."

Glinda rolled her eyes and smoothed out her glittering skirt in weak protest as if seeing it glitter in all its glory would change Elphaba's opinion about her wardrobe decisions.

"Well, it is terribly heavy..."

Elphaba laughed at that and then proceeded to help Glinda out of her dress at her request and vice versa.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three:

"But aren't you the least bit excited?" pressed the blonde as she leaned on Elphaba's shoulder as they sat next to each other on the bed, with each of them in one of Glinda's nightgowns. The candles in the lamps around them were flickering a slow death as the night wore on but still neither of the women would sleep.

"About the wedding? Of course I am," replied Elphaba fiddling with her glittering ring casually, "I'm just not so pleased about how many people are going to be there. The guest list is already at five hundred..." She trailed off as they had already been through this conversation earlier in the evening and she did not want to repeat herself over and over again.

"But what about the dress, tell me that you are absolutely ecstatic about wearing that dress, Elphie," trilled the blonde, who always somehow managed to turn any conversation into one about clothes.

"Well, it's a bit glamorous for me... and white. You know that I dislike any color other than black and blue. It's too whimsical for me."

"Yes, but Elphie, this is your wedding we are talking about. It's supposed to special and magical," gushed the blonde romantically.

"You've been reading too much into those novels I got for you for Christmas," stated Elphaba as she picked at a loose thread on the black nightgown. She looked across at Glinda, the glorious beauty that she was in a stunning vision of white and felt a pang of jealousy. Glinda had grown up in a world where romance and wealth were incorporated into every aspect of her life, that everything could be romantic and good. Elphaba hadn't lived that way, she didn't know how to look on the bright side of everything.

"Why can't a wedding be special and magical?" imposed Glinda with a tilt of her head. "I mean, I do realize that the purpose of marriage is for blood lines and keeping the family names afloat but even still, I think it's lovely that you and Fiyero are marrying each other for love. It's rare, and I think it's beautiful."

Elphaba gave her friend an approving look, there was the woman's brain. Glinda rarely used it, her head being full of hair products and wealth there wasn't enough room for a brain.

"I just don't understand the purpose of a big ceremony."

Glinda frowned, "I guess in your case it's because of Fiyero's position... I mean after all you are marrying the Crown Prince of the Vinkus and the new Captain of the Wizard's guard," pointed out the blonde in an innocent sort of way.

Elphaba groaned and looked across the room at the walls in thought, "I guess I'm just more upset about what happened today than the wedding. I was so sure I was right, Glinda. I thought I had passed with flying colors."

"Was Madame Morrible lurking in the corner per usual?" asked Glinda trying to get her distracted so that she wouldn't get so upset.

"Yes, like the hawk that woman is. She even interrupted my test, something about talking to Dr. Nikidik about an important faculty matter. I think that's when I got confused... but I was just so sure that I was right..." Glinda heard a wavering breath escape Elphaba's lips and Glinda looked over to see Elphaba on the verge of tears.

Glinda bit down on her lip and looked as though she was about to say something when Elphaba interrupted her. Shaking her head and tears away, Elphaba said, "I shouldn't be complaining to you, Glinda. I've already taken advantage of you today more than I would have usually. Let's talk about you. Are you still out there looking for a possible husband?"

It took a minute for Glinda to recover from her state of readiness to comfort Elphaba and to go to a state of talking about her personal life. Upon hearing the question, Glinda rolled her eyes, "Oh, Elphie please. Mother and I have enough discussions about my current lack of engagement and relationship already. I do not need you added to the list."

She paused, a girlish smile making its way to her mouth "But there is this one wealthy suitor named Sir Chuffrey who has taken quite an interest in me."

Elphaba pursed her lips, "And how old is this one?" Her eyebrow arched in mockery. She knew Glinda's reputation to go for old men surrounded by piles of money.

To this, Glinda smacked her arm playfully and feigned being mad when she really wasn't.

"He's... he's," she sighed, "He's an ancient ruin, but he has a lot of dough and that's what Mother says counts."

Elphaba crinkled her nose in disgust, "Your family has their priorities out of whack," she commented, "though I'm one to talk... my family is pretty much not speaking to me."

"Even Nessa?" questioned the blonde, daring to venture into those dangerous waters at such a moment. She knew the tight bond between the two sisters, but yet she also knew of the distinct differences in each of them that would cause such tension.

"Yes, even Nessa," said Elphaba softly as if she'd rather not speak of her family now.

Glinda's eyes showed compassion as if she was urging Elphaba on but Elphaba wasn't in the mood for a pity party. She averted the blonde's gaze and cleared her throat.

"Thank you for letting me stay here tonight, Glin. It really does mean a lot," Elphaba sincerely thanked her friend.

"Always, Elphie. I'd never turn you away," said the blonde as she snuggled a bit closer to Elphaba with her head resting on her shoulder. Elphaba didn't mind the physical contact from her dearest friend. It was comforting to her.

"I'm glad I have someone else other than Fiyero to turn to." Elphaba smiled down at the blonde. "Who would have thought the two of us being the best of friends?"

They both laughed, with memories of their earlier years together bursting through... the loathing and hatred of each other.

"What was it that I used to call you, that awful nickname?"

"Artichoke, or steamed broccoli," answered Elphaba with a smirk, "It was very clever actually. No one else had ever called me that before." Elphaba made a distinct tone of sarcasm in her voice and Glinda couldn't help but giggle, more out of embarrassment at her younger self.

"I was terrible to you," stated the blonde shaking her blonde tresses slowly. "I'm quite glad we became friends, eventually."

Elphaba looked at her and cracked a grin, "Me too, Glin. Me too."

"Didn't we swear to hate each other forever?" laughed Glinda, "What utter nonsense!"

"We were quite intent on not liking one another," remembered Elphaba.

Glinda positioned her hand so that she was holding Elphaba's, carefully interlocking their fingers

"Now, look at us..." smiled Glinda.

"We're the best of friends..."

Elphaba returned the gesture and then her eyes settled on the far window.

"It's late," she said suddenly, "We should be sleeping." She saw that the early morning streams of dawn were peeping through the curtains.

"Alright then, let's go to sleep," agreed Glinda as she blew out the candles one by one and then asserted herself next to Elphaba under the covers.

"Goodnight, Elphie," whispered the blonde softly, kissing her friend's cheek quickly.

"Goodnight, Glinda," replied Elphaba as she returned the kiss.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four:

Something creaked and suddenly Elphaba found her eyes to be open and her body no longer in a state of complete unaware and bliss. The harsh rays of the sun hit her face and caused her to squint. Slowly she pushed herself up on the bed, yawning occasionally and ran a hand through her dark hair. She casually glanced next to her, expecting to see her friend curled up sweetly in a sleeping state, when her eyes were greeted with an empty space.

Glinda was not there. Confused, Elphaba took a sweeping look around the room for any traces of the blonde, and to her relief she found the door to the bathroom/changing room slightly ajar, with light streaming in through the crack.

"Are you adorning yourself with yet another glamorous ballgown for show or are you planning on dressing practical today?" teased Elphaba thinking that her friend was in the middle of dressing.

She heard Glinda laugh, a sweet chime of bells. "Why don't you come in and see if you approve?" she challenged coyly.

Determined to rip apart the blonde's outfit to shreds just for some lighthearted fun and her own amusement, Elphaba stormed into the bathroom without a second thought.

"I should have you know that-"but Elphaba cut off her own sentence. Her eyes drifted from the nightgown, all crinkled from being tossed onto the floor, to the bubble filled tub that the blonde was currently submerged in. Though the soapy substance did cover everything Elphaba still couldn't help but avert her gaze discretely.

"What do you think?" asked Glinda as she sat there nonchalantly in the tub, like she and Elphaba did this everyday. Her fingernails tapped the edge of the tub, one painted nail at a time. Her golden hair shone in the morning light like the sun, and her blue eyes only seemed to get more sparkly and enchanting by the hour.

Despite most of herself being covered, the blonde's shoulders and the upper part of her chest, excluding her breasts, were exposed as well as part of her kneecaps. When it came to flaunting her figure, Glinda had no problem in that area. She was a natural and actually had a rather nice figure to flaunt.

Elphaba had always found herself in Glinda's shadow when it came to natural beauty and charm.

"What do I think of what? Your indecency? Some high society girl you are," Elphaba half teased and half meant it. Ever since her graduation from Shiz, Glinda had become a different person, a better person than she had been before, but she was no longer the prissy, self conceited girl known as Galinda. Glinda as she was known now, the name change done by the woman herself, was having quite a bit of fun challenging the rules and customs. Elphaba had watched the woman transform from a girl of etiquette and high born status to a woman who was smart, still a little bit vain, still completely giddy, and who was a little bit of a rebel, thanks to Elphaba herself.

Sure the blonde still cherished wearing her glittering ballgowns and putting on airs for people, but she had a new found love for seeing just how far she could push the rules

"Of the dress, Elphaba. What do you think of the dress?" she pointed to the bright fuchsia garment that hung on the door to the changing room.

Elphaba made a face. The dress was too bright, too loud but then again this was Glinda she was talking about. The blonde always made sure she was making some sort of statement, her contribution to society as she called it.

"Perfect, I guess. No one will be able to lose sight of you in that," remarked Elphaba with a slight smirk.

The joke either went over the blonde's head or she chose to ignore it for she then asked Elphaba:

"Would you mind helping me into it? It is rather troublesome to lace it up all by myself."

Elphaba sneered, "Don't you have people for that?" She crossed her arms in defiance, still a bit sore and angry about what had happened yesterday with her test now that she was fully awake to remember it all, though it was all actually quite fuzzy in her mind.

"Yes," she replied innocently, "But I'm asking you, Elphie."

After an intense few seconds of staring at each other, Elphaba finally sighed loudly, a sign of defeat.

"I will never understand how you make such a disgusting shade of pink work, but I have to admit Glin, you do look beautiful," confessed Elphaba as she put her head on Glinda's shoulder and looked at her friends' reflection. The dress tightened at the waist, causing Glinda to have virtually no stomach, and flared out at the end in a sea of pink. The bodice only enhanced Glinda's breasts and made her neck look petite and fragile. Of course her face was already done up in the latest rogue color and lipstick, and her hair fell in coif ringlets around her shoulders.

Standing next to her, Elphaba felt small in her borrowed nightgown. She just wasn't the natural beauty like Glinda was. She had sharp features, sharp tones, everything about her was jagged and pointy... and that's why everyone kept away from her. No one liked to be around something that could hurt them. Whereas, she now observed as she gazed at her friend, Glinda had pleasant features, soft curves, curls in her hair. There was nothing jagged or sharp about the blonde, not unless one got her angry then she would turn those charming orbs of blue into icy daggers. She knew why everyone flocked to the blonde, she just didn't know why people, even after all these years, would be interested in her. She was nothing special, though she was known for being the green skinned daughter of the famous minister Frexspar the Godly, there was nothing charming or pleasant about her.

The only thing Elphaba had was her ambition, her drive to succeed, and to prove everyone who taunted her wrong. And now with her failure, her chances of rising above everyone was almost impossible.

"You look like you have your entire future laid out at your feet," commented Elphaba once she stopped her internal battering of herself and her looks.

"And you look sad," commented Glinda gazing at Elphaba's face and seeing the pain hidden in it. She took one of Elphaba's hands, "You know, dear I don't have to go to town today with Sir Chuffrey if you don't want me to. I can stay here, and you don't have to go back to Fiyero's if you don't want to."

"No, no you do," said Elphaba, not wanting the blonde to give up everything just for her sake.

"Go be wooed by your ancient ruin who has a lot of dough, I'll be fine. Really, Glin I will," she swore once she got the look of disbelief from the blonde.

"Why don't I believe you?" questioned Glinda as she narrowed her eyes at her friend. There was that brain of hers working again, putting together the pieces of what might happen if Elphaba was left alone.

"Because you don't trust me," answered Elphaba honestly. "But you don't need to be worried, Glin. I promise I'll stay home for the rest of my life. Maybe I'll even take up sewing," Elphaba was kidding and she laughed at her own fun but Glinda was not amused. She saw right through Elphaba's facade of sarcasm.

The blonde pursed her lips, obviously tempted to stay home and take care of Elphaba but then she suddenly thought against it. Obviously the gentleman caller was too great of an offer to pass up, Elphaba did understand. Glinda's parents had been at her throat when they had received news of Elphaba's engagement to Fiyero, and they had scolded the poor blonde for not finding a suitable husband quick enough. They claimed that the reason that they moved from the humble surroundings of the Pertha Hills to the Emerald City was to acquire a sense of city life, when the real reason was to find Glinda a suitable, yet still very wealthy husband.

"Just don't do anything stupid, alright?" Glinda warned in a soft voice as she took Elphaba's hand and lead her out to the front door to leave, after gathering up her belongings and getting her changed into that disapproving gray dress.

"I make no promises," said Elphaba truthfully and the blonde pursed her lips in doubt.

"I'll stop by later to check on you," called out Glinda as she watched her friend walk in the late morning air towards her house.

Elphaba turned back around and gave the blonde a flash of green fingers and then all Glinda could see was the back of her head.

"Goodbye Glinda," said Elphaba. Glinda merely shook her head at her and laughed. They were an odd pair for friends, the stunning blonde and the freakish green woman, but somehow they made it work.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five:

Elphaba opened the doors to the house that she and Fiyero both owned by herself. Usually, as custom instructed, a butler or maid would open the doors but Elphaba had insisted that when she had moved in with Fiyero that he do away with his servants. She was not one for the traditions of royalty and wealth. She found servants, though quiet and humble as they were, irritating and were always slightly intrusive whether they meant to be or not.

She came home to an empty house, which she was rather glad of. Glinda was good company and all but her high pitched voice and giddy antics wore on Elphaba and she relished in the quiet of her own home. This house wasn't a big adjustment to the one she grew up in, Elphaba kept it humble and earthly with trinkets from her childhood traveling and with interesting textures and patterns. It certainly wasn't your typical mansion like the Upland's house was. Elphaba didn't care for lavish decorations or structures so the home's style was simple and comfortable. And characteristic to herself the mansion's tone was kept dark and chilling, and downright intimidating with its long curtains of black, and winding staircases covered with shadows.

Settling herself down in an armchair in the drawing room after grabbing an apple to eat, she considered that her breakfast, Elphaba sat for a while in the silence, just thinking. She knew she should distract herself from reliving the moment of her failure over and over again but she couldn't help it. Her thoughts were consumed by it, especially now that she was alone. Fiyero wasn't home yet, it would be nearly noon by the time he got in from his shift at the Palace. Secretly she was glad he wasn't home. Though Elphaba loved him, she was relieved that she could have a few hours to herself after such a tragedy as failing her exam.

Her thoughts of yesterday were a blur, a few sporadic bouts of memory as she tried to recall what exactly had happened that had caused her to fail.

She remembered when the hourglass had tipped over, starting her exam. She recalled dissecting the midsection, that part had been easy. It was then that her memory started becoming distorted a bit. After pondering on what had happened next for a long time, she rose up from the chair, dashed off to her study and grabbed her textbook hoping to refresh her memory.

Scouring through it to find the procedure that she had performed, Elphaba finally laid eyes on it and she eagerly reread the passage and the steps repeatedly.

It was then that her full memory came back to her and Elphaba came to her final conclusion.

She had not failed. Her technique, as she reread over the steps, had been on point to a T. She had not made a single mistake in her approach. She recalled doing every single step of this procedure right, every single one. But there was something in her mind that kept telling her that she failed, that she had made a mistake.

The fact that her brain was unwilling to accept the truth that she had passed was confusing to Elphaba.

"I didn't... I didn't f..." she tried to say the words out loud but found that she couldn't. She suddenly felt very dizzy and she staggered to stand up straight. Her head was pounding as if it was trying to rid itself of the thoughts that she had actually passed.

It was all very strange, and quite distressing. She took a couple of deep breaths and focused on something else in her subconscious, a happy memory of when Fiyero had proposed to her and the dizzy spell passed.

Feeling exhausted and horrified at what had just happened, Elphaba made her way to the telephone. She dialed a number with one hand, the other holding her head in case the dizzy spell decided to come back.

It rung.

"Hello?" Fiyero answered on the other line, "This is the Captain of the Guard speaking. How may I assist you?"

"Yero, it's me," said Elphaba in a tired, weak voice, "I need you to come home... something strange just happened, I don't know how to quite explain it... I just... I need you here," she fumbled out some sort of reasoning.

"I'm on my way," he said in a slightly panicked voice and Elphaba then hung up the phone and made her way back to the drawing room where she had been sitting.

She had the strangest suspicion that she knew exactly what had happened to her but she didn't want to raise false accusations without proof.

When Fiyero came home, having rushed from the Palace as fast as he could, he found in her the drawing room and immediately asked her a million questions.

"What exactly happened?"

"Are you hurt?"

"Is this about yesterday?"

After he got all of the questions out of his system, she finally did answer him... well to the best of her abilities.

"I was thinking about my examination yesterday, and about the procedure and what I did. And Fiyero, I came to the conclusion that I passed. I just know that I didn't. I even looked it up in my textbook, I did exactly everything that I should have for that specific operation. It's just when I tried to say the words out loud, I got dizzy... like" but it was then that the dizziness came back to her head again. She paused and shut her eyes tight, and breathed in slow, deep breaths but the pounding in her head was like a jackhammer slamming through her skull.

"Fae?" Fiyero sounded worried. He rushed to her side and held her hand, trying to guess at what exactly was her ailment.

"See, this is what happened this morning," explained Elphaba as she pressed a hand to her forehead in pain as if to try and relieve it.

"I think you're working yourself up over this, I knew you should have come home with me last night," Fiyero snapped, more angry at himself than her.

"No, no Glinda was a great help... I wasn't like this with her last night. It's just when I start thinking about the procedure, everything gets a bit fuzzy." Elphaba looked up at him, and tried to ease his worrying with a brief, fluttering smile.

"Should I call a doctor? Maybe it's the stress or something... I don't want to let this go on if it's something serious." Fiyero kissed her head tenderly.

"I was almost a doctor, I know the signs and symptoms of everything... this isn't a sickness or a headache," Elphaba stated.

Fiyero looked at her.

"You sound like you already know what it is, then."

She grimaced, "I have a feeling I do."

A few minutes later, the feeling passed as it had once before and Elphaba found her vision to not be blurry again.

"What is it that you need?" asked Fiyero once he realized that she wasn't about to spill what she thought was happening to her just yet.

"Glinda," said Elphaba, "I need to speak with Glinda."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six:

"Thank you for coming on such short notice. I'm glad you received my call," greeted Fiyero once he opened the front door and saw that it was Glinda. The blonde looked worried, and rightfully so.

"I came as soon as I got home and Momsie relayed your message to me. What exactly is this all about, Fiyero? You were quite vague..."

She stepped across the threshold and looked around at the marble house for her best friend, ignoring Fiyero as if he were a ghost.

"It's Elphaba," he started.

"Is she hurt? Did something happen?" the blonde cut him off and she twisted her hands nervously as she waited for an answer, concern laced into every detail of her face. The shadows that the light cast across the foyer only heightened the tension between them.

"She's alright now, but she... she's taken ill or something like it and she needs your help to figure out what it is," Fiyero tried explaining it to the blonde but he nonetheless failed.

"But why me? Why didn't she want a doctor?" Glinda sounded critical of her friend's judgement.

"I don't know, she didn't say. She has a suspicion and she says she needs your help," Fiyero sighed deeply and continued, "Personally I think it's the stress wearing on her. It seems that every time she thinks of her exam she gets dizzy and has a massive headache like Lurline herself is trying to erase the entire memory out of her mind."

"Well that's certainly puzzling," agreed Glinda as she removed her large sun hat that matched that "disgusting shade of pink" dress and set it on a hook that hung from the wall.

She whirled around at Fiyero, her skirts flying around her ankles and stared at him intently like she was trying to read him.

"Do you think it's all in her head?" she asked him quietly.

Both of them knew that neither of them would ever breathe a word of this to Elphaba herself. Well, at least Fiyero hoped that Glinda wouldn't blab to Elphaba but then again Glinda never did know how to keep a secret.

"I have strong suspicions, yes. But I also know that she wouldn't be telling me this if it wasn't true... All I know is that something is not right," concluded Fiyero.

Glinda licked her lips in thought. Fiyero took a good minute to look at his fiancee's best friend. She was certainly something. Of course all three of them had known each other in college, but he had never really taken the chance to get to know the blonde for she was always off in some social event.

Judging on looks and personalities, the two women were total opposites. Glinda, as Elphaba had once described her, was like a ray of sunshine... bringing light to every possible thing imaginable while Elphaba relished in darkness. Glinda was innocent in ways that Elphaba was hardened.

"You're the only one who she wants to see." He sounded bitter and angry that Elphaba didn't think him worthy enough to help her. He seemed a little jealous that the blonde was the one she called on for assistance. Glinda couldn't blame him but she didn't let it show.

"I'll do what I can."

Fiyero then showed her into the drawing room where Elphaba was. He then closed the door behind her.

"Elphie? Are you alright? I came as quick as I could, but with city traffic and all it took me a bit and then I had to find the book you asked me to bring..." the blonde trailed off as she moved towards the chair where Elphaba was sitting and sat herself next to her.

"If you would be ever so kind as to enlighten me on why you asked me to come here, that would be very much appreciated," remarked Glinda a bit curtly.

"I'm sorry I had to cut your day out with Sir Chuffrey short. But I just knew that you were the only person who could help me with this," said Elphaba hollowly. These dizzy spells had left her weak and tired. She looked terrible, Glinda observed. Her face was drawn out, eyes bleak, lips trembling. She didn't look deathly ill but something was definitely wrong.

"It's alright, it wasn't anything spectacular," the blonde brushed the subject off. She then folded her hands in her lap.

"Why did you ask me to bring over my sorcery book from college?" she then pressed, "You're lucky I still had it tucked away for reference!"

Elphaba didn't directly answer her question.

"Glin, did you ever study anything about memory spells?"

Glinda thought for a moment, her face focused.

"I believe so... but Elphie I still don't understand why this has anything to do with your-"

"Who taught your class?" asked Elphaba.

Glinda was taken back by the fierceness of her question, "What?" she asked timidly.

"Who taught your class?" repeated Elphaba.

"Ms. Greyling, of course. Don't you remember me speaking of her before? She wasn't a very good teacher but I did learn a lot from her," Glinda looked at Elphaba. "What are trying to tell me?"

"Did Madame Morrible ever sit in on your class, did she ever teach?"

"I don't know, Elphie, maybe. I'm sorry that I can't recall every single detail of that class. For all I know she might have... what does this have to do with your dizzy spells?" Glinda seemed a bit aggravated.

The green woman paused a bit before she answered.

"I think I was bewitched, I think the entire class was bewitched into thinking that I failed," Elphaba finally said her thoughts out loud.

Glinda's face paled. "Elphie, that is a serious accusation..." she pondered over what they had just been discussing and then she whispered softly, "Do you think Morrible bewitched you?"

She didn't say it in a mockery, but she didn't say it like she was fully in support of Elphaba either. Glinda simply asked a question and for that Elphaba was grateful for because she didn't know if she was a hundred percent right in thinking this or not.

"I don't know... but it would make sense," said Elphaba with a shrug of her shoulders.

"But why would she do such a thing?" asked Glinda, who sounded astonished by the mere possibility.

"I don't know, maybe they decided that as the only girl in the class that it was only socially right if I failed. Or maybe my Father finally wrote to them at last... there are a million reasons why they probably failed me..."

Glinda put her hand on top of Elphaba's in comfort and solidarity. They didn't have to say anything to each other, they just knew.

"What do you plan to do about it if you're right?" asked Glinda brushing back a loose curl from her face behind her ear.

"I haven't figured that out. I just want to see if I'm right first," Elphaba gave Glinda a weak smile.

Glinda's heart sank in her chest as she vaguely gathered an idea about what Elphaba was going to ask her to do next.

"Oh, no Elphie. I won't do it. I will not put a memory charm on you! It's dangerous if done wrong and I've been out of practice for so long and-" but Elphaba silenced her with her hand.

"Please, Glinda. I need to know if I'm right. It will be about something simple, I promise," Elphaba pleaded.

Glinda stared wordlessly at her but she realized that she had no other reason to turn Elphaba's request down. The blonde sighed angrily and took out her old sorcery textbook, flipping through the pages to find where the memory charms were.

"If I kill you or damage your brain, Fiyero will never let me hear the end of it," muttered the blonde testily.

"You wouldn't let anything like that happen to me," said Elphaba, "Besides, I trust you and that's enough for Fiyero to trust you as well."

Glinda looked up at Elphaba and bit her lip.

"Alright," she said slowly, resigning herself to Elphaba's demands, "If you're so sure about this. What exactly do you want me to magick? Anything specific?"

"Whatever comes to mind," said Elphaba with a shrug.

Glinda thought long and hard. Then she sighed again.

"Elphie, I can't do this. Spells are irreversible, what if I tamper with something that does more harm than good? Memory charms are especially dangerous to do, please don't make me do this."

Elphaba pursed in lips in sheer determination, but then she bit her lower lip... a sign of defeat.

"If you really think it's a bad idea, I won't make you do it. I'm sorry, Glin," she looked more relaxed than she had been previously, a good sign that she was actually going to put this whole business of magicking herself with a memory charm behind her, "You know how impulsive I get sometimes..."

"And then it's almost impossible to change your mind after wards," added Glinda with a wavering smile. She looked utterly relieved to not have to magick Elphaba. She even slid the sorcery book back into her bag discretely without so much as drawing any sort of attention to it.

"I just wanted to know if I got the same feeling as I do whenever I think about what happened yesterday," expressed Elphaba.

"And you couldn't have thought of a more thought out plan than calling me over and asking me to magick you?" scolded Glinda.

Elphaba shrugged her shoulders innocently, "Like I said, I'm reckless."

"I think all those lab experiments with The Old Goat messed with your head, Elphie," remarked Glinda in a snotty tone that Elphaba did not appreciate.

Elphaba gave her a look.

"Alright, alright I'm sorry about calling him The Old Goat, Elphie. But you have to agree Dr. Dillamond was a little bit out there," Glinda said shyly.

"Just because someone is a little bit different doesn't mean that you have permission to give them ridiculous nicknames," snapped Elphaba.

Glinda looked shameful and twisted her hands in her lap, "That does seem to be my specialty these days, doesn't it? Giving the wrong people hurtful nicknames," she mumbled under her breath.

Those blue eyes locked with Elphaba's, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said it."

A moment of silence passed through the room.

"You don't think that Dr. Dillamond has anything to do with this? I mean, maybe Morrible found out that you are still working with him and she-" Elphaba shut the blonde up with a stern look.

"No, that's not possible. No one else besides you, me and Dr. Dillamond know about our experiments," swore Elphaba.

"You still haven't told Fiyero?" gasped Glinda, "Elphie, it's been three years since he got fired and took refuge in the inner workings of the city and you still haven't told your fiance that you're working with him. What does he think you do all day and in between classes?"

"He believes I'm with you," said Elphaba earnestly.

"Well, that explains why he hates me so much," said Glinda, frowning slightly.

"He doesn't hate you, and he can't know what I'm doing. He's the Captain of the Guard and Dr. Dillamond supposed to be rotting away in Southstairs. I can't tell him," protested Elphaba, "And besides, what he doesn't know won't hurt him."

Glinda's eyes narrowed at that, but Elphaba brushed her off.

"If you really feel strongly about this, you should go confront Morrible. You're the only one who has the guts to stand up to her," confessed Glinda.

"Maybe I will," said Elphaba in a tired, drained voice.

Glinda looked sympathetic towards her friend.

"Let me know if you do go speak with her, I'll want to hear all about it."

Just then, Fiyero came bursting through the door hurriedly, dressed gallantly in his Captain of the Guard uniform with gleamed a deep green with gold seaming.

He apologized for the intrusion, coming to Elphaba's side and kissing her cheek softly.

"I'm afraid I can't stay for dinner, Fae. The Wizard just telephoned and summoned me to his quarters... I'm sorry I have to leave again."

Elphaba waved him off, "It's fine, Yero. I understand. I'm feeling much better so I think I can bear to be alone by myself for a while till you come home."

Fiyero slid a glance to Glinda for confirmation, and the blonde nodded solemnly. Fiyero looked back at Elphaba and kissed her again, this time on the lips.

"I'll be back as soon as I'm able to," he promised her. He then turned to leave and catch a carriage.

"I'll be here," called out Elphaba to him, smiling.

Glinda looked at her suspiciously once he left.

"He's even more empty-headed than I thought if he actually believed that little act," remarked Glinda hotly.

Elphaba pursed her lips and avoided eye contact.

"I don't know what you mean," she shrugged off slyly as she got up from the chair, a bit unsteadily, and stood up straight.

"You're going to see Dr. Dillamond, aren't you? Or go confront Morrible? You're not the type to just sit and let this blow over." Glinda was persistent in getting an answer.

"Why do I always have to be up to something? Maybe I'm just going for a long walk," said Elphaba as she left the drawing room and fetched a shawl for herself out of the closet.

"At least let me come with you if you're going to see Morrible," bargained the blonde.

"Alright," Elphaba turned to face her, "You can come with me."

Glinda smiled as she donned on her hat and the two women then left the house in search of their old Headmistress.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven:

The cobblestones on the way to Shiz University were rather treacherous for someone in heels as Glinda. Elphaba, on the other hand, had no problem making her way through the streets in her worn out boots. She easily passed through the numerous crowds whereas Glinda followed behind at a slower pace. Elphaba wanted to hurry up and get this thing done and over with. She needed to know the truth and this was the only way of finding out.

"Will you hurry up already?" she scolded the blonde as she waited for her on a sidewalk, "We don't have all day." She crossed her arms in front of her chest and scrunched up her face in aggravation.

Glinda looked rather hurt, "I'm sorry, Elphie I'm not wearing the best shoes for traveling through the streets." Her excuse wasn't the best and it went unheard by Elphaba who was already walking forward. Glinda sighed and followed suit.

"Do you want me to come in with you?" asked the blonde once they finally reached the gate to Shiz University. The great brick building laced with ivory brought back some interesting memories to both women but neither of them were here to relive their past. They were only here to settle their futures.

"I guess I could use the extra support," said Elphaba softly. Glinda could tell just by the change in her voice that she was already miles away, trying to plan out what she was going to say to Morrible. The blonde nodded and watched to see Elphaba's facial expression change.

"Do you want to in then?" she proposed. The sky was getting darker, it was nearly time for dinner. It cast a dark gloom over the school, which Glinda thought was an omen of bad things to come. The blonde didn't say such things out loud, but she had a bad feeling about this meeting. She didn't exactly think it would end in Elphaba's favor.

"Yes, yes let's go in," Elphaba took the lead and the two women made their way to the Headmistress' office.

The green woman knocked on the door politely and it was opened by that frightening tic tok creature Grommetik.

Morrible lurked from behind her desk and caught Elphaba's eye in her gaze.

"Ah, Miss Elphaba, I was wondering when I would be seeing you. Please do come in."

Elphaba looked at Glinda a bit skittishly and then proceeded to go inside the room. Glinda paused, not knowing whether she should step inside the room as well. But before she had the chance to even say hello, Grommetik slammed the door behind itself and she was left on the other side of the door.

Elphaba glanced behind herself, expecting to see Glinda in tow and she was slightly surprised not to find her there. She saw that Grommetik had already shut the door and Elphaba knew the blonde could keep herself occupied for a few minutes while she settled this with Morrible.

"Now, Miss Elphaba may I be right in presuming that you came here today to talk about your examination the other day?" the old woman looked smug. She knew she wasn't wrong.

"Yes, you are correct Madame, I was wondering if I could discuss with you the terms on which I failed because I have been over and over my technique and I find no flaws in it," Elphaba said calmly. She was ever so glad when she didn't feel the dizzy spell begin in her mind when she explained her reasons for coming here.

"Are you saying, Miss Elphaba, that you do not believe you failed?" Morrible posed the question quietly, softly. She sipped on her cup of tea that was on her desk. Her beady eyes stared at Elphaba like a hawk's, waiting for her to answer.

"I believe I passed," Elphaba stated.

Morrible put down the cup and folded her hands in front of her, like royalty.

"That is a very serious accusation, Miss Elphaba. I do hope you have reasoning to back it up."

Elphaba straightened herself up. She took a breath. This was it. Now or never. She was going in for the kill.

"I am under the assumption that you bewitched me, Madame. I have reason to believe that you are making me, and my class, believe that I failed when I know I didn't. I don't know why, I don't know how but that's what I believe."

Morrible's expression did not change. She didn't even twitch. She just stared at Elphaba with those beady, bird like eyes calm and collected.

"So you are basing your accusation on a feeling?" Morrible sounded critical, as if the idea was laughable, "Oh, Miss Elphaba you are too strong headed for your own good."

"You said so yourself that you are trained in the arts, Madame. And we have not had the best relationship throughout my time here at Shiz so yes I have reason to believe that you bewitched me simply because you don't want to see me become a doctor," Elphaba knew her reasons were weak but she couldn't find some ulterior motive that Morrible had for bewitching her, even though she knew that there probably was one.

"I'm trained in Weather sorcery dear, it's different than regular sorcery, the kind your friend Glinda took. I wouldn't know the first thing about bewitching the mind. If I did, don't you believe that I would be somewhere else other than here?"

Elphaba lowered her head at that.

"My dear Miss Elphaba, I'm sorry to crush your wild fantasies about me bewitching your mind of its own accord but I can't say that I had a single thing to do with your failure. You should take it up with Dr. Nikidik if you feel so strongly about it," The Headmistress cleared her throat, "But I am sorry to say that as of now you are a failed medical student and I have to dismiss you from the program."

"But-" Elphaba started to protest. Madame Morrible put up her hands.

"I'm sorry Miss Elphaba, but there is nothing I can do. You're dismissed from the program, effective immediately."

She then took another sip of her tea, "Grommetik, please show Miss Elphaba the door."

The tic tok thing then emerged from its hiding place and opened the door.

Elphaba stayed in her chair for a moment before realizing that it was utterly useless to fight with Morrible.

She left the room, defeated.

Glinda immediately came to her side.

"So what happened in there?" she asked as the door to the office was slammed shut. She did not like the look on Elphaba's face.

"She dismissed me from the program, said there was nothing she could do. And she laughed in my face about my accusation that she was the one who bewitched me," Elphaba said glumly.

She looked so upset, it hurt Glinda to see her this way.

"Oh, Elphie. I'm so sorry," consoled the blonde as she gave her friend a tight embrace. Elphaba just stared into empty space, her body numb of anything. Of course she was devastated but she couldn't feel anything right now. She was just staring blankly as the world around her was crumbling apart.

After a few moments, they turned to leave when the door of Morrible's office creaked open.

"Miss Glinda," said Madame Morrible curtly. The blonde turned and looked surprised to see Morrible in the doorway.

"Madame Morrible, but how did you know I was here?" She tried to laugh it off but she was rather spooked.

"How I know does not matter, dear. But what does matter is that I wish to speak with you... in private if you don't mind, dearie." The headmistress gave her a knowing look towards Elphaba.

She then escaped to her office, but she left the door wide open for Glinda to come through.

"Will you be alright on your own?" the blonde asked carefully.

Elphaba looked slightly more alive than she had before. Apparently her interest had been sparked when Morrible had summoned Glinda to her office.

"Yes, of course I will be. Will you be alright, I know how intimidating Morrible is to you." Elphaba gave Glinda a look.

The blonde woman bit her lower lip.

"I'll be fine." But she knew that it was completely unconvincing.

"If you say so," Elphaba waved her goodbye, partly wishing that she could stay to witness this but she knew that she would receive all the details tomorrow.

The blonde swallowed hard before going into the office. Here goes nothing, she thought.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight:

The walk back home without Glinda was filled with mixed emotions for the green skinned woman. Elphaba was curious as to what Morrible was conversing with Glinda with, but she was also wary of the old woman. Glinda was, though it was a common fault, guilty of being manipulated by Madame Morrible, she had been so in the past. She wondered why Morrible asked to see the blonde alone. It was as if Morrible had known Glinda had been there all along, even though she hadn't seen her.

A persistent thought tugged at her brain as she walked through the near empty streets. It was nearly half past seven and she had already missed dinner. Fiyero would probably not be home yet after his urgent telegraph from the Wizard.

Against her better judgment, she decided to go with the insistent thought of going to see Dr. Dillamond even though they weren't supposed to meet for a couple of weeks.

Elphaba turned around and went the back way to the place where Dillamond was hiding out, an old abandoned warehouse near the east side of town. She hid in alleyways and made sure that she was not being followed, Elphaba was an expert at disappearing at the drop of a hat and not being detected.

Finally when she reached the warehouse, she saw a light in one of the windows. She knocked three times and waited for someone to answer.

A voice was heard on the other side of the door.

"Password?" it said.

"Sandwiches," Elphaba replied quietly.

The door opened.

The Doctor stood shakily at the door. He looked run down, tired, and sad but seeing Elphaba lifted his spirits.

"Were you followed?" he asked as he let her in. His voice was pleasant but surprised.

Elphaba shook her head, "No, I made sure of that." She walked in and took off her gloves and scarf, setting them down on a table nearby.

"How are you doing?" Elphaba asked looking around the bare room with its white peeling walls and its dusty limited furniture, "I know these living conditions aren't exactly five star but soon enough this whole thing will blow over and you'll be allowed to come back to Shiz."

"No, no I don't believe I will," Dr. Dillamond said sadly, "I believe, Miss Elphaba, that it's too late for me."

Elphaba grew frustrated, "How can you say that? You still have your work, your research, your studies! You have so much that you have to accomplish, you can't give up now!"

They went through this argument on a weekly basis.

"Oz is no longer a place for Animals to be teaching nevertheless speaking. The sooner you realize that, Miss Thropp, the better. Can't you see it?" the old Goat begged her to understand his side of things.

"Our Wizard is trying to stomp out every outcast that stands in his way, stands in the way of his idea vision for Oz. He wants anyone who is different to be silenced!"

Elphaba crossed her arms.

"And it seems like so does Madame Morrible," she let her secret slip out.

She covered her mouth as soon as she said it and looked up horrified.

Dr. Dillamond looked outraged as he put together the pieces of what she was saying.

"You didn't pass the test?" he sounded like he was in disbelief.

"No... and I believe that it was Madame Morrible's doing, some sort of cover up..." she then told him what happened today at Shiz and Dr. Dillamond listened intently.

"I can't believe it!" proclaimed the Goat as he stomped his foot in irritation, "I just can't believe it!"

He went on to say:

"Never in all my years of teaching have I come across a more talented, more ambitious student as you, and they have the nerve to fail you!" He huffed in anger.

Secretly Elphaba was shocked at the high praise, but her face didn't show it.

"I can't say that it's all true but I have my suspicions," Elphaba crossed her arms and looked down at the ground.

"The nerve of them!" shouted Dr. Dillamond, "You did everything right and yet still!"

Elphaba brushed a piece of her hair back from her face, "Well, what's done is done now. But we can still work together, we can still do our research. You can't give up just because of me."

Dr. Dillamond looked at her.

"But how will we get the tools we need? We could only keep the equipment the school had extras of and that wasn't very much. You can't just show up at the school for no reason and steal equipment, Miss Elphaba, no I will not put you in that danger again."

"I can see if Boq can get it for me, he made the cut. He'll do it," Elphaba tried to come up with a plan but she knew that Boq would take a lot of convincing.

"No, no, no, we must recognize when the universe is begging us to stop. Miss Elphaba, I'm afraid our research has come to an end, even though I'm afraid the stakes are direr now more than ever."

Elphaba arched an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

The Goat sighed and explained in a low voice.

"Ever since the Wizard has placed the bans of Animals and their rights, strange things have been happening. Some Animals have come down with muteness which is to be expected from being restricted, but others have fallen ill. Gravely ill. They have become disoriented, deathly sick, pale as anything as if all the blood was drained from their bodies. Some even throw up blood. And after a few weeks of suffering they die. But the newest revelation is that it's not just happening to Animals, people have started coming down with this illness. People who have been working with us, Animals too."

"Do you think this is the Wizard's doing?" Elphaba asked cautiously.

"It might be, but it certainly is something that we cannot control."

Elphaba sat down in a spare chair.

"How long has this been happening?"

Dr. Dillamond sighed again, "About three years."

Three years ago... that brought back memories to Elphaba's mind. All of her other friends had just graduated (Fiyero, Glinda) and she was beginning her five year program to get her doctorate.

It was also the year that the accidental late night explosion happened, it was the year that Dr. Dillamond had gotten fired.

"Does this have anything to do with the accident?" she questioned.

"Think about it, Miss Elphaba," Dr. Dillamond urged, "The bans didn't start happening till after the accident... it's very possible and quite likely."

"So how can you say that we just stop? How can we just leave Oz defenseless when this type of illness is going around?"

The Goat lowered his head in shame. He didn't say anything for a while.

"I guess you're right. But if after six months this proves to be too dangerous, then we stop for good. Can you agree to that, Miss Elphaba?"

Elphaba didn't hesitate in saying yes.

She left shortly after that, promising to visit again next week with the proper tools to start their research again.

When she returned home, Fiyero was there waiting for her.

"It's late," he commented from the dining room table where he sat at, reading the day's newspaper, "Where were you?"

"I was out with Glinda," Elphaba answered quickly.

He looked up at her. His face was tired, suspicious.

"You did something reckless, didn't you?"

Elphaba whirled around at him, fuming.

"I did not!"

"Then where were you, really?"

She took a deep breath.

"I was really out with Glinda... we just made a quick stop to Shiz along the way."

Fiyero sighed loudly and cursed.

"Ozdammit, Elphaba, I told you to leave it alone! What good did you really think was going to come from that?"

"I was trying to fix my future!" Elphaba shot back, "I was trying to save my career! Why shouldn't I stand up for myself?"

Fiyero looked frustrated, but Elphaba was worse.

The air was stale, tense with anger.

"Things are changing, Elphaba. And not for the better," he warned, "It would be safer if you just let this go, and moved on."

"How can you say that? How can you of all people say that?" Elphaba was extremely hurt. She had thought that Fiyero would be on her side but his eyes were hiding something from her and she couldn't figure out what.

"I'm just trying to make this easier for you. You need to make a clean break from this. Maybe now we can focus on us, on starting a family..."

But Elphaba had already turned away and was halfway up the stairs.

Fiyero soon followed suit, and he found Elphaba in their bedroom. She was in the midst of changing into her sleepwear, and she didn't look at him though he could tell she knew that he was in the room.

"I'm sorry I told you to let it go. I know how much this job meant to you," he apologized as soon as she was done changing.

She looked up at him, eyes dark.

"Why do I have a feeling that this is more than just about the job? Is there something you're not telling me?" she accused him sharply.

Fiyero fidgeted slightly. Elphaba didn't miss a beat, her eyes flashed.

"You wouldn't believe me, even if I did tell you. And besides, it's confidential," Fiyero muttered but he could feel himself slipping up.

"Oh, yeah," Elphaba challenged, "Try me."

And so reluctantly he told her.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine:

"I shouldn't be telling you this," Fiyero warned, "You don't know what how big this is, Elphaba."

Elphaba narrowed her eyes at him.

"Would you rather me be in the dark about all of this?" she challenged him, crossing her arms tightly.

He sighed and relented, sitting down on the bed next to her.

"Remember when I first got the job of being Captain of the Guard after graduation... it was right around the time Dr. Dillamond got fired..." he started.

"Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?" she asked suddenly, wanting to get to the heart of the problem quickly.

"I'm trying to tell you how it all connects, let me finish," Fiyero said tensely.

Elphaba looked down at her lap and shut her mouth reluctantly.

"When I got the job, I had a meeting with the Wizard... and he wasn't at all what I imagined him to be. He was frail, almost sickly... he said that his time was limited, that his death was near... but then a few weeks later he miraculously recovered... He almost looked rejuvenated, younger. His skin seemed to glow and he seemed nimble and quick despite his obvious old age. I thought it was weird of course, but I didn't think anything of it at the time."

Elphaba looked at her husband quizzically.

"But what does this all have to do with my career?" she asked softly.

His dark eyes glanced to hers hesitantly.

"I- I think that Madame Morrible stole something that you and Dr. Dillamond were working on from the lab and used it to save the Wizard. Some sort of potion or something."

Elphaba's mouth hung open.

"What?"

"I know it sounds crazy," Fiyero backtracked, "But strange things are happening in Oz and it kinda makes sense."

That statement struck fear in Elphaba.

"What kind of strange things?" she pressed.

He didn't answer her.

"Fiyero, what kind of strange things are happening?" she asked him again.

His hands twitched nervously and he looked up at her fearfully.

"You cannot breathe a word of this to anyone, do you understand, Elphaba?"

She nodded, realizing the graveness of this situation.

"A lot of people are becoming sick, Elphaba, deathly sick... and it's not just people either, it's Animals and animals as well. They're falling fatally ill and no one knows why. And instead of asking us to investigate, all the Wizard wants the Gale Force to do is to dispose of the bodies... he claims its some sort of epidemic..." Fiyero took a breath, "but I think it's connected to his strange recovery from whatever illness he had three years ago."

It was all starting to connect in Elphaba's mind what was going on.

Dr. Dillamond's story matched up with Fiyero's almost perfectly... and it terrified her.

"I think it might have something to do with some spell Morrible cast on him as well. Somehow maybe the potion and the spell are connected to create a cure... like some sort of medicine to help fight back whatever ailed him last time," Fiyero explained.

"Morrible is that powerful, I wouldn't put it past her," whispered Elphaba hollowly, in shock at what she was hearing.

"And I know you're angry about being cut from the program, but I believe it's for the better, "he continued, "That way you're not near Morrible and maybe we can just go on with our lives..."

"Do you think she set me up because she feared that I would find out if I stayed with the program?" Elphaba asked in a whisper.

"I wouldn't doubt it," he looked at her and he could see the vengeance gleaming in her eyes, "Promise me you won't go acting on this information, Elphaba. Like I said, I have no proof, just a nagging suspicion."

"But we can find out, you can find out... we can see for ourselves if you're right and-"

"No, Elphaba," he stopped her, grabbing her hand, "No, we're not. Not yet anyways."

She stared at him wordlessly.

"I know you want to bring justice and I love you for that, but we don't know everything yet. Promise me that you won't do anything stupid?" He kissed her cheek softly.

At that moment she wanted to tell him about Dr. Dillamond, how he wasn't dead or chained up, how he was very much alive. But she decided against it.

"I promise," she answered.

He looked at her and gave her a small smile.

"I'm probably wrong, you know. I am brainless after all, maybe this is all just my imagination," his attempt to lighten the mood failed.

"I have to leave early in the morning tomorrow so I won't see you till tomorrow night. Why don't you go spend the day with Glinda, go shopping or whatever you two do without me," he suggested after he had changed and shut off the light.

"I think I will go see Glinda," Elphaba said after contemplating it for a few minutes, and Fiyero kissed her goodnight.

The night was filled with her restless thinking. With all of that new information floating around in her mind, Elphaba found that sleep escaped her that night. No matter how hard she tried to fall into a dreamless state, she found that she could not. So instead she listened to Fiyero's light snoring and pretended to be asleep when he woke up and left for work.

Once he was out, she got up as well, changing into a dress of dark blue and putting on a hat to shield her eyes from the bright morning sun.

She walked to Glinda's on foot, not bothering with a carriage. Her mind was too occupied for her to be distracted by silly things such as that.

The blonde was rather disgruntled when Elphaba arrived at the mansion, having just woken up herself for she was still in her nightgown.

"Elphie, for Oz's sake, what are you doing here so early?" grumbled Glinda as she led the green woman up the stairs back into her bedroom.

"I came to see you, I'm sorry I'm here so early but it couldn't wait." Elphaba apologized as she sat down on Glinda's bed next to the blonde.

"What couldn't wait?" asked Glinda as she yawned and grabbed a robe, tying it around herself and fluffing out her hair with her fingers.

"I need to know what you and Morrible discussed yesterday. It's of vital importance," Elphaba said tensely.

"Elphie," laughed the blonde, "What in Oz are you talking about?"

Elphaba frowned deeply.

"Glin, I'm asking about what happened yesterday when you talked with Madame Morrible after I had left."

The blonde's face remained confused.

"I really don't know what you're talking about, Elphie. Surely you were mistaken. You're so worked up about failing the program that you are imagining things, my dear."

"Glinda, this wasn't part of my imagination. This really happened," Elphaba said casting a concerned gaze at her friend, "Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

"Never better," replied Glinda rather cautiously.

"Then why don't you remember?" pressed Elphaba.

Glinda shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. I'm sure I would remember something as terrifying as that... I'm sorry Elphie, but the entire thing escapes my memory."

The panicked, frantic shine in the blonde's eyes told Elphaba that she was telling the truth; Glinda was a terrible liar.

A chill went through the green woman's body.

"I think she bewitched you," Elphaba said softly as she brushed back a lock of the blonde's hair when it fell out of place. The blonde looked terrified at those words.

"But why? What does it mean if she did?" Glinda pulled the covers around her as if she had a chill too.

"I don't know exactly... obviously she didn't want me to find out what you had told her. Have you seen anything suspicious lately, anything at all?"

Glinda shook her head, "No. Not that I can recall. I've been spending quite a lot of time with Sir Chuffrey but he doesn't have many ties to the city, other than strictly business ones."

"Elphie," she continued, "Why do you look so worried? You've got that paranoia look in your eyes, don't deny it!"

Elphaba swallowed and tried to look calm but she could feel herself failing.

"Fiyero told me something last night that just makes me a little bit hesitant on the fact that you don't remember anything..." she paused and pressed a hand to Glinda's forehead, "Are you sure you're feeling alright?" she asked again.

Glinda didn't look frightened at the contact of the green hand to her face, but more-so at the cryptic statements Elphaba was making.

"I'm fine, Elphaba, honestly," she assured her friend.

Elphaba pursed her lips.

"Don't make such a face, I'm sure this is nothing. By tomorrow morning, I'm sure I will remember what happened," but the blonde didn't even sound hopeful enough to convince herself.

"I'm going to see Dr. Dillamond," Elphaba announced, "If we figure out anything, I'll let you know."

Glinda took a breath, biting on her lip. Elphaba took notice.

"What?" she asked a bit testily.

"I'm just worried about you, Elphie." Glinda put a hand on Elphaba's and squeezed it tightly, "I know this failure has been a lot on you and that it's been hard but diving head first into work with Dr. Dillamond again isn't the answer. You should take some time off, relax a little. You're always so stressed. I just want you to be happy."

"I appreciate your concern, Glinda but I know my limits. I'm fine and I can handle this."

Glinda's facial expression said otherwise.

"Are you going out today?" Elphaba asked her, ignoring the blonde's plea to discuss this more in depth.

"Chuffrey and I are going to lunch at the Plaza, why?" a wry smile appeared on the blonde's lips, "Do you want to come?"

"I want to make sure I can contact you if I find anything," Elphaba stated business-like. She got up to leave when Glinda's voice called her back.

"You know you don't have to keep making up grandious excuses to come and see me," Glinda said softly, almost in a whisper, "if you need to get away for a bit you are welcome to stay here with me. I know you're in that big house alone most of the time."

Elphaba stared back at her blonde friend who looked at her with such concern, such loyalty Elphaba felt bad for hiding information from her, she felt bad for declining her sweet offer. But she would tell Glinda in due time what was happening, when she had everything all figured out... when she was sure and she would most definitely take Glinda up on that offer when the time came.

"There's no need, Glin. I'm fine," Elphaba managed.

"The paranoia look in your eyes says otherwise," Glinda joked but her tone was serious. She waited for an answer, an explanation, but she never got one.

"I'll find you if I need to," was all Elphaba said before taking off and leaving.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten:

Elphaba stormed into the abandoned warehouse without any warning. The hazardous flashing of lights greeted her eyes as she entered the building and she knew that Dr. Dillamond was working on something. A Lion/lion was strapped to a table, not for torture but for his own safety. Dillamond seemed to be trying to study its symptoms but he looked rather aggravated at the results.

As soon as he noticed Elphaba he shut the machine off and released the lion through a door in the back.

"You looked like you were hurting him," remarked Elphaba.

"It was just a routine test. To make sure he wasn't sick," replied Dr. Dillamond as he cleaned up his station and tools. "Just some needles and blood work."

"How do you know it's not already in him? What if you're infected now?" asked Elphaba.

Dr. Dillamond, "When dealing with making history, you don't worry too much about getting the disease yourself. And besides, he seems clean, healthy. I was merely trying to distinguish the difference between the healthy tissue and the tissue once it gets infected but it seems to look the same."

He glanced at her again, "Did you bring the supplies?"

She shook her head, "No. Not yet. I have questions for you."

Dillamond looked interested. His eyes were on her.

"Go on," he encouraged.

Elphaba took a breath.

"You know what you were telling me about this disease? I think it has a connection with the Wizard. Fiyero told me of something that makes sense of it all," she then proceeded to rely the story Fiyero had told her.

Dr. Dillamond seemed intrigued by it all but at the end he asked a very important question.

"But how do we prove it?"

To that, Elphaba had no answer. She looked downcast on her feet, "I don't know. Maybe steal the Grimmerie and see if there is such a spell like that."

Dr. Dillamond shook his head, "That's a suicide mission and you know it. No one gets near that book."

"So what do we do?" shouted Elphaba, angry and frustrated. She was livid, hateful towards the Wizard, towards Morrible, to what they were doing to the citizens of Oz.

"Are we just gonna let the citizens of Oz and animals and Animals alike die for him to be immortal? It's not fair!"

The old Goat looked at her with a sad smile on his face.

"Oh, my dear Miss Elphaba. I'm glad to see that the fire in you has not extinguished. You must have patience. We will work this out. We'll raise awareness, but we must have proof first. None of your facts exactly correlate with what the Wizard is doing. We can't prove it."

"So we just let, hundreds, no thousands of innocent people die in the mean time?!" yelled Elphaba, "How can you call that justice? How can you as a scientist say that that is right?"

He looked at her calmly.

"Because it's what has to be done."

Her face twitched, she didn't want to hear anymore of this. She felt sick. Disgusted with the world she lived in.

She turned towards the door, but not without whispering something first.

"I think Glinda's sick... but I'm not sure. She can't remember what happened when she went to see Madame Morrible yesterday. She has no recollection of it at all."

She looked back at him, looking haunted.

"Is that one of the symptoms?"

He didn't say anything so she asked again.

"Is it one of the symptoms?" her voice was harder, more desperate.

He sighed slowly.

"I don't believe so."

Elphaba nearly wept with joy.

"But I'm not sure."

Fear struck up in her heart again.

Dillamond coughed as he explained, "Each case is different you see. Some become delusional before they die, some forget things, and some don't show any signs of memory damage at all. Keep an eye on her."

Elphaba's hands shook ever so slightly.

"And if she is sick?"

He turned away from her for he didn't know what to say to her.

Elphaba didn't know what to say either.

A still, heavy silence fell between them.

"I'll find a way," she said at last, "I will."

He didn't comment, but he let her walk out in silence and then he returned to his work with more vigor and concentration then every before. Because if Miss Glinda was infected there was no way of ensuring that he nor Elphaba wouldn't be.

Time was against them.

They had to work fast.

The day didn't get any better when Elphaba returned home late that afternoon. She had taken out every book on spells and illness they had at the library and now had stacks upon stacks of books at her disposal to obsessively go through as well as her student medical books.

But her reading had gotten her no where. There seemed to be no such spell that granted immortality in exchange for the lives of others.

Her frustration only grew when Fiyero came home that night.

"I was wrong," he said as he came into their bedroom. Elphaba was already in bed, under the covers with a book in her lap.

She looked up at him.

"What do you mean?"

He climbed into bed next to her, still in his uniform but he didn't seem to care. His eyes looked frightened, scared as if he had witnessed something terrible.

Elphaba picked up on this right away.

"Fiyero, are you alright? You look scared out of your wits." She placed a hand on his arm.

"I was wrong to think that this thing was nothing. It's not. It's not nothing."

Elphaba's alarm increased.

"What happened?"

"A prisoner came in today, he had an appointment with the Wizard. I escorted him to the Throne Room... and I didn't pay much attention at first. I was more focused on the prisoner, making sure he wasn't going to try anything. But then Morrible stepped forward and said something like he didn't deserve to live because of his crimes... and she performed a spell on him. And he fell to the ground in a matter of seconds, throwing up blood, choking on it and everything. I watched him die right before my eyes and I-I think that's the same spell they're using on these Animals and people for the Wizard to get their strength."

Elphaba was horrified.

"Are you sure?" she asked numbly.

He nodded, "I saw it happen. I think maybe he's taking a potion and using the spell as a precaution in case that doesn't work."

"If we swear to this, you could testify. Fiyero this changes everything! We can use this as proof, we have them in our clutches! We can get them to stop!" Elphaba grew excited with this information.

But Fiyero shook his head.

"No, no one would believe it. And they'd kill you before you could utter a simple syllable. No, it's not time yet."

Elphaba looked at him. She wanted to tell him what she suspected of Glinda, to tell him that they might not have as much time as they had planned but she didn't.

"You could steal it. The Grimmerie I mean. If you could steal it and find the spell, that would be enough proof to convince the rest of Oz," Elphaba said hollowly.

"If they caught me, they would kill me Elphaba! I can't just waltz in there and steal the book," Fiyero pointed out.

"You're our only chance. If you do this, we can stop them, before anyone else gets infected," she pleaded.

He sighed, tired. She curled up against him and kissed his cheek lightly.

"Just think about it, okay?" she murmured.

He agreed to that.

"Oh," he muttered a while later, "Did you see the note left for you on the table?"

It was past midnight now and neither of them could sleep.

Elphaba straightened up. "No. Who was it from?"

"Sir Chuffrey, or was it Mrs. and Mr. Upland... I don't remember. Either way it said that it was urgent that you read it right away."

Elphaba's heart froze.

"Oh, no." Her mind assumed the worst. Her heart did as well. She felt tears well up in her eyes.

She had told the blonde to contact her if anything had happened. But if Sir Chuffrey or her parents had contacted her, who knows what could have happened to Glinda?

Elphaba pictured her at Death's door, or maybe she was already dead. Who knows? The note had probably came when she had gotten home and that was nearly ten hours ago.

What if it had been a plea for help? A note urging her to come over before it was too late?  
Fear gripped her heart as she raced out of the bedroom and found the note on the table in her study.

She tore it open.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven:

The note read:

Dearest Elphaba,

I know you said to contact you if anything happened, and luckily what I have to tell you, my dear friend, is the most wonderful of news.

Sir Chuffrey has proposed! It was such an elegant affair but I dare not reveal too much of the story for that would ruin the purpose of this note.

Sir Chuffrey and I would like to cordially invite you and Fiyero to tea tomorrow afternoon, 2 o' clock sharp at Mother and Father's place.

I do hope that you can come. You can't imagine how utterly happy I am and how excited I am to share this news with you.

Till tomorrow darling!

Yours,

Glinda

Relief flooded her body. All of her worries left her mind like a warm summer breeze. She allowed herself to finally breathe after she finished reading the note.

"What was that about?" Fiyero asked as he leaned against the doorway. He was lurking just to make sure it wasn't bad news.

"Glinda," Elphaba answered simply.

"What about Glinda?" pressed her husband, the slight edge of anxiety in his voice.

Elphaba sighed, too tired to give all of the details of the note. But she relented anyways, he needed to know. They were in this together.

"She's engaged to Sir Chuffrey, a man she's only known for a few weeks and she's invited us to tea tomorrow."

Fiyero pursed his lips.

"You'll have to make apologizes for me, you know how much I love having tea with Glinda but I have to go to work tomorrow."

Elphaba nodded, "No, no that's fine. I'll take care of it." She yawned and stretched her arms.

Fiyero looked at her with a concerned eye. She seemed overtired, overworked, and frankly lifeless. Her eyes seemed to be hiding dark secrets within those irises.

"You alright, Fae?" he asked suddenly, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and burying a kiss into her neck, "You seem distracted and I'm starting to get worried about you. What's on your mind?"

She wanted to tell him about Glinda, about how worried she was and how she thought that she was sick too but she decided against it. She couldn't be sure.

Her mind was made up, she would go visit Glinda tomorrow and if she suspected anything wrong, then she would tell him.

"Just tired, that's all," she lied. She folded the note up and left it by the table.

"Let's just go to bed," she suggested and without any further remarks, they went back into their bedroom and shut off the lights.

The ring sparkled in the sunlight as Glinda thrust her hand forward in front of Elphaba's face to show her.

"Isn't it just gorgeous, Elphie?" gushed the blonde excitedly. Elphaba glanced at the diamond, impressed by its size and glimmer.

"It's very beautiful, Glin," she praised as she sat opposite her friend and Sir Chuffrey, all three of them sipping on tea in the drawing room. The blonde looked positively radiant in a blue pinstriped dress with a dark blue hat to match and compliment her golden hair. Elphaba was wearing something a bit more subdued, one of her dark purple ensembles. But as always, Glinda looked the most beautiful out of the two of them.

She was glowing in her new found happiness, but Elphaba could sense that something was off about the blonde, but as to what she could not tell.

"I'm so happy you could come today, so that I could tell you all about it! Oh, Elphie it was just so romantic! We were outside the Bellington Theatre on Grand Avenue and he just popped the question right after the show! Everyone around us cheered, and he gave me a lovely bouquet of roses too! I do wish you could have been there!" the blonde slightly pouted.

"I feel like I was there with your description!" said Elphaba with a warm smile.

Glinda beamed, her eyes sparkling and giddily clutched Sir Chuffrey's hand in her own. Elphaba observed the exchange quietly. To her eyes, it looked a little forced, a little overworked but then again this was Glinda she was watching, and Glinda loved the dramatics even when retelling a story.

"We already have the date picked out, May 6th. A spring wedding, it will be so wonderful. And of course, you'll be my maid of honor, won't you Elphie?" proposed Glinda with an excited grin.

Hope gleamed in her eyes.

Elphaba paused. She wasn't planning on saying no, no one ever could say no to Glinda. But she had to take a moment.

"Of course I will," she said. But inwardly Elphaba was thinking about if Oz was even going to be inhabited by next year. What future did her country have? She guessed her gaze went blank for before she knew it Glinda was trying to get her attention.

"Elphie," Glinda's gloved hand reached out and touched Elphaba's bare one, "Are you quite alright darling? You look distressed."

Elphaba put on a quick smile, "Never better. I'm so happy for you, Glinda, really I am."

She then looked at Sir Chuffrey, he was as old as she had expected him to be that came as no surprise. Graying hair, slight wrinkles, dressed in a fancy black suit, but his face was kind, his eyes were warm whenever they glanced Glinda's way. He seemed to genuinely care for her, which was all that mattered to Elphaba.

"Momsie and Popsicle are pleased too, soon we'll be moving out, back to the countryside in Chuffrey's mansion. Oh, it will all just be so wonderful."

Elphaba's smile dropped a fraction.

"You're leaving?" she asked.

Glinda looked at her, looking not too pleased about it herself though her previous statement said otherwise. Nevertheless, the blonde forced a smile on her face.

"Well we can't possibly stay here, darling. Too much fuss, too much everything, and besides Chuffrey has his operations set up back home. I can't just ask him to part with it just for my sake," explained Glinda.

"We'll make sure to visit though," piped up Sir Chuffrey, if not out of courtesy then out of pity for Elphaba was fairly certain her face had gave away her disappointed feelings that Glinda would be leaving.

"And I'll write everyday, I promise," swore the blonde with a reassuring smile.

"Of course, of course you will. I just can't believe you'll be gone. You're my best friend, Glin," admitted Elphaba honestly.

Glinda smiled heart-warmingly and took one of Elphaba's hands in her own.

"You're mine too, Elphie. You're mine too."

There was a moment of sweet silence before Glinda opened her mouth again, and excitedly exclaimed:

"You just have to come and see the sketches for the wedding dress!" trilled Glinda happily as she clutched Elpaba's hand and dragged her upstairs, promising "Chuffers" that they would only be a few minutes.

The blonde calmed down a little once the two women were in the seclusion of her room. Her voice wasn't as animated as it had been downstairs, her anxious trilling was absent from her speech, she seemed more tranquil.

"Glin, I'm sorry if I seemed a bit out of sorts down there. I just have a lot on my mind, but I do want you to know that I am so incredibly happy for you," said Elphaba after a few moments of silence as Glinda searched for the wedding dress sketches on her desk.

The rustling of papers stopped, Glinda looked back at Elphaba teary-eyed. The green woman, surprised at the reaction from her friend, moved closer to her.

"Glin, what is it?" she asked cautiously. She was desperately afraid Glinda was going to reveal that she wasn't feeling well, that Elphaba's deepest fears had a right to be valid.

The blonde nervously glanced at her, her eyes the slightest bit frightened.

"I don't love him," she whispered.

Elphaba frowned, "What?"

Glinda sighed regretfully, as if she was wishing that she had never said anything. Elphaba stood next to her, patiently awaiting an explanation.

"I said I don't love him, not truly anyways. He's a fine man, Elphaba, he's kind, gentle, wealthy, but... I... I love someone else."

That piqued Elphaba's interest. Her eyebrow arched.

"Who?" she asked gently.

Glinda gulped for air, and looked down at her skirt. Elphaba moved in front of the blonde and softly put her hand under Glinda's chin and forced her to look at her.

Tears were already in the blonde's eyes. She looked frightened, scared.

"Glin, you know you can tell me anything, my sweet. And if you don't feel as though Sir Chuffrey is the one who you are supposed to marry then so be it. But you have to tell me who stands in his way. You'll feel better afterwards, I promise."

Glinda laughed nervously, a watery smile on her face. She placed a hand over her mouth while she contemplated her next choice of words.

"So who's the lucky guy?" teased Elphaba.

Glinda let out another burst of anxious/ hysterical laughter. Elphaba furrowed her eyes quizzically.

"Glin," she goaded on softly.

The blonde looked up at her, the picture of miserable perfection. Elphaba could never figure out how she looked so beautiful even when she was on the brink of falling apart.

Her bright lips trembled.

She muttered something, but Elphaba did not hear the exact words that fell from her lips.

"Come on, Glin. Out with it," she said a bit sharply.

Those blue eyes locked onto her own brown ones.

"You," Glinda stammered, her tears brimming the edges of her eyes,"I love you."

Elphaba took a step back.

"I always have loved you. I don't want Chuffrey, I want you. Can't you see that?" pleaded Glinda in sobs, "It's always been you."

"I don't understand," Elphaba managed to get out in a tight voice. She stared at Glinda who at that moment in time seemed like a complete stranger to her.

"I'm in love with you," the blonde confessed again quietly, and then her voice grew angry, "And I know, I know you're married and that you could never possibly love me back but Elphie, I am so desperately in love with you. I don't know what to do without you. Elphie, please," she begged as she tried to reach for the green woman's hand.

Elphaba turned away fiercely.

"We're friends, Glin. Nothing more."

A pause.

Elphaba continued with, "I don't know if I even want to be that with you anymore."

A heartbreaking cry broke from Glinda's lips. She covered her face with her hands in misery, in desperation, in heartbreak.

Elphaba looked back at her friend and felt a pang at her heart. She despised seeing Glinda this upset, but she couldn't give her what she wanted. She couldn't be that for her. It was slightly unsettling to think that the blonde had been in love with her after all this time and she hadn't even realized it. She felt like she didn't even know her anymore.

"I need time," she got out slowly, "to think about things. I need time away, Glinda," expressed Elphaba hollowly.

The blonde didn't say anything. She didn't even seem to have registered what Elphaba had just said.

"I'm sorry," Elphaba said and then she left, swinging the door closed behind her leaving a distraught Glinda in her wake.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve:

She came home straight away, abruptly and without any warning. A million thoughts ran through her head as she walked through her house.

Glinda... her best friend... was in love with her.

It was too much, too much change, too much to handle at once. She felt as if her world had been turned upside down. How could her best friend suddenly have romantic feelings for her? How could she have missed it?

Her breathing turned heavy, as her mind whizzed around with this new information. Elphaba didn't even realize that she was leaning against a wall for support until she almost fell against it from exhaustion and disbelief.

"Elphaba?"

She turned around, bewildered, still half focused in her thoughts and saw Fiyero. She ran to him and crashed into his sturdy body, embracing him tightly.

"What in Oz is wrong? What happened? Elphaba, speak to me!" he protested, "Glinda's been on the phone constantly asking to speak with you. She's begging me to tell you that she needs to talk with you. What the hell is going on?"

Elphaba didn't say anything for a few minutes. She couldn't find the words, she just held him close and buried her head in his chest.

Finally, when she composed herself, she looked up at him.

"Glinda told me that she's in love with me and that she doesn't want to marry Sir Chuffrey..." she whispered.

Fiyero's eye widened, "What did you tell her?" he asked, posing his question carefully, trying not to upset her.

"I told her that I needed to be away from her. I told her that I needed time to think, to re-evaluate our friendship," confessed Elphaba.

Fiyero nodded in agreement after a beat of silence, "I think that's fair. But you can't ignore her forever, Fae. You two need to work this out," he counseled.

She bit her lip, "I know, and I might not have handled it in the best way, but what was I supposed to do, Fiyero? She's my best friend, and she just admitted that she has romantic feelings for me."

Her husband caressed her cheek gently.

"I know, but she's still important to you. You two have history together, you can't just let this throw all of that away. Go talk to her, maybe you two can work something out..." he advised.

She turned away from him, "Not now. I can't talk to her now..." and she left him alone and locked herself in her room.

For three weeks, Elphaba didn't talk to Glinda. She ignored her calls and letters. Instead of patching things up with Glinda, she threw herself into her work, trying hard to uncover this mysterious disease that was gripping the land. She went to Dr. Dillamond's hide outevery day, and stayed there almost the entire day. She only came home when she needed to, or if she needed to get books or materials.

Fiyero was starting to get worried about her. He'd plead with her to stay home, to rest but she wouldn't listen.

She was wearing herself thin, and it seemed that it was all for nothing. Her experiments with Dr. Dillamond weren't providing any concrete solutions. Nothing seemed to be working. Nothing seemed to be going in their favor and it was beyond frustrating.

Fiyero was having trouble getting the Grimmerie from The Wizard, which only added to the frustration of Elphaba. At every chance he had, Fiyero was always nearly caught trying to steal it and he then had to create a false explanation as to why he was near the book.

One night, Elphaba actually was home, curled up next to Fiyero in their bed. She had accidentally fallen asleep, exhausted from her never ending days of work. Fiyero didn't mind, he held her close, watching the night hours slowly fade away into morning. He had missed having her sleep in their bed, he had missed her presence.

He stroked her hair lovingly, gently and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"We're going to get through this, you know that right?" he whispered to her but since she was asleep, she said nothing in reply.

A boom of thunder answered instead. Fiyero got up and glanced out of the window, seeing that the peaceful black sky had now turned into a wild summer thunderstorm. Rain came down in torrents, and soon it was pouring consistently with flashes of lightning and thunder throughout the air.

He was just about to fall back asleep when he heard amidst the thunder and rain, a pounding of knocking on the front door.

Shrugging, he thought it was the rain and tried to fall asleep.

Then it happened again, harder this time. Cursing slightly under his breath, Fiyero threw off the covers and sat up, ready to go see who was at the door.

But just then, Elphaba woke up, having heard the knocks.

"Who is it?" she sleepily asked, turning her head towards him.

"I don't know, I'm going to see right now," he answered.

"I'm coming with you, I have to be up anyways... I have to get to work," she replied in a murmur as she got out of the bed and half slept walked to the front door.

Fiyero followed right behind her, curious as to who would be bothering them at this sort of hour.

Elphaba pulled open the door after a yawn had escaped her lips, and a hand had run through her frizzy bed hair.

A soaked man stood on the porch, water dripping off of him as he waited there.

"Sir Chuffrey?" Elphaba asked, suddenly alert and wide awake at the sight of the man, "What are you doing here?"

Fiyero peered over her shoulder to see, indeed, Glinda's fiance soaking wet in his fine suit.

"It's Glinda," he said hoarsely.

Fiyero watched as Elphaba stiffened at the mention of her friend, and whether it was in fear of what was to come or in anger of what had happened before, he did not know.

Elphaba slightly scoffed, "Let me guess, she got tired of sending those letters and thought that you could persuade me to come talk to her, has she lost her mind? Do you have any idea what time it is?" she scolded him.

"It's not that," said Chuffrey gravely, his face deadly seriously, his tone showed no signs of joking.

Elphaba straightened up, preparing herself for whatever hell was to come next.

"Then why are you here?" she asked stiffly.

Chuffrey took a moment to answer, his voice shaking and quivering with emotion.

"She's sick, terribly sick and... and I didn't know who else to turn to but you. I know that you and her had some sort of falling out but I beg of you, please just come see her, see if you can help her," he begged, almost in tears.

Fiyero glanced at Elphaba, but her face was stoic. She was still, almost like a statue, with no emotion on her face.

Then in a split second, she snapped out of it.

"I'll get my books," she said as she quickly disappeared back into the house.

Relief flooded Sir Chuffrey and Fiyero's features. Fiyero excused himself, and quickly got dressed, and offered a fresh coat to Chuffrey, which he took most graciously.

Time seemed to stand still in those moments when they were waiting for Elphaba.

But when Elphaba came back, with a cape over her shoulders and a stack of books in her arms, they all left for the Upland residence in a hurry, knowing that they had no time to lose.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen:

The rain pounded against them as lightning lit up the sky. The brief moments of light illuminated the world of darkness that surrounded the three of them. Everything seemed colder, scarier in the dark. The rain didn't help, creating strong winds and brushing everything into their path.

But Elphaba was only focused on one thing right now and that was Glinda.

She couldn't stop her worried thoughts about the blonde. What if she was dying? What if she was already dead by the time she got there? All of these what if scenarios played out in her head and only motivated her to move faster.

She picked up the pace of her walking, and kept her gaze facing forward. She hurried along, faster than either Fiyero or Chuffrey were going.

But she was desperate, she was scared. She couldn't lose Glinda, not now... not like this...

"Elphaba, look out!" Fiyero suddenly cried, dashing her thoughts into the air like scattered pieces of paper.

But the warning came too late, and suddenly Elphaba tripped over something, falling face first into the mud and rainwater that had collected in the street.

Lightning flashed again, and Elphaba had to squint to try and make out what she had fallen over. Fiyero immediately came to her aid, offering her his hand, while Chuffrey stopped to make sure she was okay.

She stood up, staggering a little bit after she had gathered her now wet books from the pavement. Her eyes glanced back to whatever she had tripped over and suddenly she gasped, realizing what it was.

The handkerchief around its neck was a dead giveaway.

"Oh Oz," she moaned, covering her mouth in horror, "It's the Lion from Dr. Dillamond's lab," she lamented softly.

Fiyero wrapped an arm around her shoulder in comfort.

"Come on, Fae. He's gone already... we have to keep going," he whispered softly in her ear, but she wasn't listening to him.

She bent down besides the Lion and saw that, like Fiyero had said, that he was dead. Blood had by now congealed at his mouth and in the fur of his mane. His body was angled in a weird position, as if he had fallen down and his muscles had given out, maybe had even spazzed.

She felt like she personally had failed him.

"Elphaba, leave him. You can't help him now," Fiyero pleaded with her.

Her fingers lightly touched his blood stained fur, the rain causing the red liquid to run and mix with the mud and dirt of the street.

"I'm sorry," she mouthed.

After that, she got up and kept on moving forward. She kept glancing back though, at the unmoving figure of the Lion. Her heart was heavy with grief. She could have saved him, and others like him if she only had that damned book.

Elphaba knew deep down that Glinda would suffer the same fate as that Lion had. She had this intuition that what Glinda had was this virus that was killing everyone.

She only hoped that she would be able to save Glinda in time... if she could just save one person.

Finally they came to the Upland mansion that was lit with only a few candles. Chuffrey hastily unlocked the door and let them in.

All three of them quickly took off their wet coats.

"When exactly did she get sick?" Elphaba bombarded Chuffrey with questions as they raced up the stairs to Glinda's room.

"She wasn't feeling too good yesterday after the Opera. I took her home early to let her sleep, and when I came back this morning she was already sick. The maids said she woke up like that. Sick as a dog, tired, pale, shaking..."

"What about coughing?" Elphaba asked.

"Yes, yes she's coughing. It got worse as the day went on."

"Anything else I should know?" the green woman looked at the man straight in the face.

"The doctor was here this morning..." Chuffrey started slowly, "and he... he said it didn't look good... and-"

But Elphaba never let him finish. She arrived at Glinda's room a step ahead of the men.

She opened the door to find Mr. and Mrs. Upland in the corner.

They both looked up when she entered, their previous expressions of worry were replaced by ones of relief.

"Oh, Elphaba! You came! We didn't know if you would or not," Mrs. Upland cried, stepping forward to tightly hug the green woman, the light sequins on her mint dress brushing against Elphaba's skin. Mr Upland stood there stoically in his usual business suit. Elphaba harbored a guess that he hadn't had time to change when he came home from work.

"How is she?" asked Elphaba quickly, "Is she alright?"

She put her books down on a spare chair and looked back to find Fiyero and Chuffrey behind her.

Her eyes betrayed her feelings of intense worry and doubt but she never let those emotions cross her face. She didn't want to worry Glinda's parents anymore than she had to.

"She's... she's not doing well, Elphaba," confessed Mrs. Upland in a strained, almost teary voice, "Her temperature is severely high, and she keeps coughing and..."

As if right on cue, Glinda let out a harsh cough, a wheezing sort of sound that startled everyone in the room and demanded their attention on her.

Elphaba looked away from Mrs. Upland at that moment. The sound of the cough had caught her attention.. it made her nervous, that cough. It made her very, very nervous.

Her eyes soon landed on Glinda, and Elphaba's breath stopped for a moment.

It wasn't the fact that Glinda was sick that startled her. She had been expecting that. She wasn't alarmed by the pale, almost translucent skin of her friend. Neither was the shaking and convulsing of her friend any cause for panic. Nor was she alarmed by the coughing and intense fever Glinda had.

Elphaba was petrified because she could see, right then, in that moment that Glinda was dying. There was no doubt in her mind about that. She had seen it time and time again over the last few weeks while working with Dr. Dillamond. It was the same dulling light in their eyes that gave them away... the same lackluster gleam...

Finally, Elphaba remembered that she had legs, and she slowly walked over to the bed. Each step could be heard as she crossed the floor, the room was so silent, so still.

Glinda laid there quietly suffering except for the times she coughed. Her nightgown was drenched in sweat, sticking to parts of her body. Her hair too was slick and stuck to the various pillows that surrounded her. She looked like one of those paintings of those dying people, the ones sick in their bed, just lying there waiting for death. Picturesque and yet all still too realistic. All still too grim.

Her dulling blue eyes looked up when Elphaba came towards her. For a while they just stared at each other in silence, the only thing breaking it was their breathing, Glinda's being hoarse and ragged.

The candle light flickered as the storm raged on outside. Thunder suddenly boomed in the distance. But none of that mattered in this moment.

Elphaba parted her lips to speak, to say anything. She wanted to say so many things... but I'm sorry was what she wanted to say the most.

But she found that she just couldn't. Her words got stuck in her mouth, caged back by that lump forming in her throat. All of her emotions got shoved into the layer of water that was staring to take shape in her eyes.

Luckily, Glinda could see that, even in her fragile state. One of the blonde's hands shakily reached upwards and gently clasped Elphaba's hand in a moment of solidarity.

Elphaba's eyes grew even mistier at that, and even though she tried to keep her emotions at bay she then let out a half sniffle-half cry. Glinda's skin was burning hot, but that was not the cause for her cry.

The overwhelming feeling of guilt suddenly washed over the green woman, and she felt herself grip the blonde's hand even tighter.

"She's been asking about you for weeks now," Chuffrey interrupted softly but Elphaba wasn't really paying him any attention at all.

She heard his words and she registered the effect that they had on her but that was all. Her focus was on Glinda; that sweet, sweet blonde who lay near death in front of her.

"Glin..." she managed, "I'm... I'm...I'm so..."

The blonde woman shook her head at Elphaba slowly, weakly. She knew what Elphaba was trying to say but she didn't have to say it.

Glinda knew.

Exhaling slowly, the blonde looked back up at the green woman; her eyes connecting with Elphaba's.

"Elphie..." she began but then she started to cough violently, almost doubling over on the bed, covering her mouth with the other hand.

Elphaba flinched at the sound of the cough, it sounded worse than it probably was.

After a few seconds, Glinda removed her hand from her mouth... and paused. Suddenly her hand started to tremor and shake.

"Glin... are you okay?" asked Elphaba immediately, worrying that something was seriously wrong.

The blonde didn't answer. She just stared at her hand, her delicate fingers curled inwards a bit.

It wasn't until she looked up with a horrified expression on her face that Elphaba saw the blood around her lips and the blood that was covering her hand.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen:

Suddenly blood was everywhere. In a split second it had gone from being on Glinda's hand and lips, to soaking through the bedsheets.

"Glinda!" Elphaba immediately sprung into doctor mode, grabbing whatever linens her hands could get a hold of and held them up to Glinda's mouth where she had been vomiting blood.

The blonde reached out a hand and gripped Elphaba's tightly, her eyes betraying that she was terrified of what was happening to her. Elphaba felt a pang of pity for her.

"Glin, it's going to be alright. You're going to be fine," comforted the green woman.

She then turned to the rest of the people in the room, who granted, looked like they all were going to faint at just how much Glinda had thrown up in the few short seconds.

"Get me some towels to clean this up," she hissed at them, and they all dispersed to get what she needed.

Her attention returned back to the blonde, who was shaking and trembling, not to mention covered in her own blood.

"I'm dying, oh Oz, I'm dying," cried Glinda hysterically, tears streaming down her face.

"Glin, you're not dying. Do you think that I'd let you die?" asked Elphaba sternly as she wiped away the woman's tears.

"No, but Elphie... there's so much blood," whispered the blonde as she was suddenly hit with another round of coughing that produced more blood to eject from her mouth.

"You're going to be fine, Glin. I'm going to fix this..." Elphaba lied, but she really didn't know how. She knew that this was the sickness that was killing everyone around Oz, and she suspected that Glinda knew too.

The only hope for Glinda was to get that damn book from the Wizard.

"How?" asked Glinda in a small, throaty voice.

Elphaba stared at her friend. She didn't want to give her false hope, but she didn't want Glinda to think that she was doomed.

"I don't know just yet..." stammered the green woman, "But I promise I'll figure something out soon."

Glinda laid back, still shaking and obviously terrified, onto the sheets.

"Elphie, I don't feel so good," admitted the blonde.

Elphaba looked at her, her attention focused on the woman and not on the drying blood on the fabric.

She put a hand on the blonde's forehead. "You do look pale. It's probably because of the blood loss, do you feel light-headed?"

Glinda nodded, "I-I kind of just want to go to sleep for a little bit." Her eyes started to close when Elphaba suddenly took her by the shoulders and shook her.

"No, Glin. Don't fall asleep, not until I figure out to get your heart-rate back up."

Those blue eyes looked at her face wearily.

"I feel so sleepy though, Elphie," confessed the blonde as she suddenly coughed again, more blood appearing on her hands.

Elphaba tried to take deep breaths. This was not going well. Glinda looked like death, a ghostly apparition of her former self. She looked too skinny, too sickly and she hadn't been infected for very long. This disease worked fast, and it was cruel and painful, as Elphaba knew from her experiments on the animals.

But there was one thing that she was wondering about.

"Glin... how do you think you got this-this sickness?" she asked her, grabbing another linen and cleaning up the blonde's hands.

"I don't know," the blonde murmured, "Chuffrey and I were in the city yesterday... but I don't remember getting coughed on or touching anyone as deathly ill as this."

Elphaba thought back a few days.

"Do you still not remember the day you saw Madame Morrible?" asked the green woman.

Glinda's brow furrowed.

"No, Elphie. I still cannot recall it."

The blonde paused, "You don't think that she did this to me, do you?"

Elphaba tightened her lips together and didn't say a word, she didn't have to.

The room was silent, except for Glinda's pained breathing.

"Elphie," the blonde took the green woman's hand, "Is there something you're not telling me?"

Elphaba avoided her gaze, staring at the mass of blood on the sheets.

"I haven't been completely honest with you about my work with Dr. Dillamond," she said softly.

"Oh?" the blonde looked confused.

Elphaba sighed, explaining everything to her, about the sickness, about the theory about Morrible and the Wizard, everything.

"I don't know if I can cure you," confessed Elphaba at the end of her explanation, nearly in tears.

Glinda laid there, silent, her breathing slow.

"Glin, please say something..."

The blonde avoided her eyes, glancing down at her engagement ring that was spattered with blood.

"So what you're saying is that I am going to die unless you get that book," Glinda concluded in a weak voice.

"You're not going to die, Glin. I promise, I won't let you die," swore Elphaba reaching for her hand.

Glinda looked at her; fearful, trembling.

"I'm scared," the blonde confessed. Elphaba pressed a hand to the woman's forehead gently.

"I know you are. But I promise, I'm going to do everything I can to help you." She then paused.

"I'm sorry for the way we left off," Elphaba apologized, "I shouldn't have ignored you. That wasn't the right way to handle things. I am sorry, Glinda."

Glinda looked at her.

"I'm sorry for what I did. I shouldn't have thrown my feelings on you like that, I didn't mean to cause a riff between us. It's just... you're my best friend Elphie, and I love you... and I just... I just needed to tell you, but it's alright that you don't feel that way... I just needed to get it out there in the open. I'm sorry too."

She grabbed the blonde's hand.

"I promise I'll never abandon you like that again. True friends don't abandon each other."

Glinda smiled a little at that.

"I'm glad I get to be your friend again," said the blonde, "You have no idea how happy that makes me."

A warm smile graced Elphaba's face.

"Do you want anyone else in here?" she asked the blonde. "Or do you want to sleep?"

The blonde took a moment.

"Chuffrey can come in... but I'm too tired to see my parents..."

Elphaba started to ask a question but then she decided against it mid-lip parting.

"What?" Glinda noticed as she coughed again.

"Are you still planning to marry him, Glin?" she asked softly.

"If I live through this," said Glinda rather defeatedly.

"Hey, hey, don't talk like that!" reprimanded the green woman. Glinda only grimaced.

Elphaba then wiped away a trickle of blood that had run down the blonde's cheek from her mouth.

"I'm going to go give your parents an update, think you can stay conscious until I come back?" she joked with the woman.

Glinda gave her a weak, but genuine smile.

"I think so."

With one last look, Elphaba left the room, trying to conceal how paranoid and frightened she was of Glinda's obviously deteriorating condition.

Mr. and Mrs. Upland were right outside of the bedroom, both anxious and looking worried.

"How is she?" questioned Mrs. Upland while Mr. Upland held out towels, "You told us to get these. Do you need more?" he asked.

"No, these are fine," answered Elphaba and then she looked at the older blonde, "She's weak but I think she can pull through."

It was a lie, and a big one but it easily slipped off her tongue and fooled the worried parents for at least tonight.

Fiyero stood a ways away, silent, but his eyes never left Elphaba's form.

Chuffrey stood leaning against the railing of the stairs near the bedroom. His face was obviously distraught.

"Chuffrey," said Elphaba, "You should go in there and be there for her. She was asking for you."

Again, it was a lie, but she knew that he needed something to do otherwise he would go crazy just sitting there waiting for either a life or death result.

Sir Chuffrey moved slowly towards the bedroom, and as he passed, Elphaba grabbed one of his hands and squeezed it gently.

He squeezed back but didn't look at her. He just moved forward and disappeared into the bedroom. Elphaba bit her lip hard.

"What can we do?" piped up Mr. Upland.

Elphaba sighed, not really knowing what they could do to help their daughter.

"Just keep her comfortable for now. I have to go back to the house to get some supplies, but I'll be back soon."

She walked forward, passing the parents and she paused as soon as she got to Fiyero.

His eyes were scrutinizing her and she knew that he was the only one who could see right past her lies.

"Can you come with me?" she asked softly.

He nodded, but didn't stop giving her weird looks until they got outside. It was still pouring rain, lightning was striking in fast bolts all around and thunder erupted from every corner of the sky.

"She's got that sickness, doesn't she?" Fiyero said as soon as the doors to the Upland mansion had closed behind them.

Elphaba suddenly had a large lump in her throat. She tried to push it down but it stayed in her throat. Her eyes grew misty, she didn't dare look Fiyero in the eyes.

Before she knew it, his warm body was pressed against hers, and her head leaned on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry, Fae. What can we do to help her?"

Elphaba steeled herself not to cry. She picked her head up, her eyes still misty but tears did not fall.

"We have to get that book," she said simply.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen:

 

Chuffrey sat with Glinda, holding her hand tightly as they all waited with bated breath for Elphaba and Fiyero to come back. The air was tense and silent, the only noise being Glinda’s raspy breathing.

He was so worried for her, he loved her so much.

She looked so pale, so deathly pale and so sick. He was afraid that she would stop breathing right there before his eyes, afraid that she would die on him right then and there.

He knew Elphaba didn’t quite approve of their relationship, but even she couldn’t deny that it was clear that he had feelings for the blonde.

And how could he not?

She was so sweet, so innocent, so lovely. She was a ray of sunlight in his life. She was positively radiant and beautiful. He desperately wanted her to be his bride. He wanted her to be his Glinda.

Glinda coughed, and stirred in her sleep and he squeezed her hand gently. She opened her eyes for a moment and smiled gratefully at him before falling back into a deep sleep. Chuffrey bit his lip, and prayed that Elphaba and Fiyero would come soon.

Finally his head snapped up as soon as he heard the door open.

 

Elphaba came in, dripping wet and looking haggard. Chuffrey met her eyes, and didn’t say anything, telling her silently that he was thankful that she came back. Fiyero came in afterwards, looking worse than Elphaba.

There was still a haunting silence hanging in the air.

 Mr. and Mrs. Upland quietly left the room, to give Elphaba the space she needed. As soon as they left, Elphaba glanced over at Chuffrey.

  “This spellbook will have to do,” she said in clipped voice, already feeling like she failed Glinda. She pulled a large black leathered bound book out from underneath her cape.

  “This might not go as planned, are you sure you want to stay?” she asked him in a soft voice.

He nodded. “Yes, I want to stay with her.”

Elphaba said no more, and sat down on the bed next to Glinda, with the book open in front of her. Fiyero sat in the armchair behind her, tense and alert.

Chuffrey kept quiet and held Glinda’s hand tightly.

Elphaba muttered to herself softly, still dripping wet, raindrops leftover on her cape falling onto the pages of the book as she flipped through it madly, trying to find a spell that would work.

  “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” asked Chuffrey, worried.

  “No, I’m really not,” said Elphaba softly.

Chuffrey felt his blood run cold at that. “Can you even read that book?” he asked.

Elphaba snapped her head up to look at him.

  “Yes,” she murmured, “Stop talking. You’re distracting me.”

Chuffrey bit his lip, and watched as Elphaba glanced over the pages rapidly.

Fiyero remained quiet as well, just watching her work.

Finally Elphaba settled on a spell. Both men watched her nervously, holding their breath as she stared at the page intensely.

She started murmuring the spell, waving a hand over Glinda. Chuffrey closed his eyes, waiting till she was done to open them. He glanced at Glinda, who still looked much the same if not worse. He hadn’t known what to expect from a spell. A bright light? A glow of some sort? But there was nothing that said that it worked, nothing that said that it had failed.

  “Ozdamnit,” cursed Elphaba out loud, throwing the book down on the ground.

Chuffrey and Fiyero cringed.

Elphaba bit her lip, her eyes welling up with tears. She picked up the book and began searching once again for another spell. She found one, performed it, but it was to no avail.

She did this once more, and failed again.

It was silent in the air after the last attempt, only Glinda’s faint breathing could be heard. Chuffrey, who was holding her hand, could tell that she was dying. She seemed to be getting lighter and lighter, her hand was limp and frail.

  “I’m so sorry, Glin,” Elphaba got out through sobs after her realization that nothing was going to work. “I’m so sorry.”

Fiyero came and sat on the bed with her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and holding her.

Chuffrey watched, in what only could be described as a trance of disbelief, as Glinda’s breathing stopped altogether. He could faintly hear Elphaba crying, and Fiyero trying to console her, but it was all a blur. He could only look at Glinda, who for some reason looked even more beautiful in death than she had in life. He could only stare at her now dead form in grief.

They got him out of the room at some point, told Mr. and Mrs. Upland that Glinda was dead, but Chuffrey was still in a blur.

Just as Elphaba and Fiyero were about to leave, he caught them at the stairs.

  “She really isn’t dead, is she?” he asked them in a hoarse voice. “She can’t be dead.”

Elphaba turned around, her books in her arms, looking awful, tired, and upset.

  “She is,” she said softly, “and I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I couldn’t save her,” she apologized.

Chuffrey didn’t know what to say to that, and he watched as they left.

Fiyero led her outside where it was still raining. She stood there on the porch for a while before she was ready to move.

Fiyero kissed the top of her head.

  “You did the best you could, Fae,” he told her softly.

Her eyes filled up with tears, “But I couldn’t save her. I told her I’d save her. If I hadn’t been so stupid- if I hadn’t ignored her then she might have had a chance-“she cried, “Fiyero this is all my fault.”

  “No, no it’s not. It’s no one’s fault,” he tried to comfort her.

  “You and I both know that’s not true,” she told him, “We know that this sickness is a part of the Wizard’s plan. I have to stop him now, I have to stop him for Glinda,” she swore angrily.

  “And you will, but tonight you need to rest,” advised Fiyero. She nodded and they headed back home, the rain still pouring down and the lightning still flashing in the sky.

 

A few days later, the funeral service was held for Glinda. It was a beautiful ceremony, just the way Glinda would have wanted it. White and red roses, Glinda dressed in her favorite pink gown. It was just right.

 After the ceremony, Elphaba walked up to the casket to pay her respects, still in disbelief that the blonde was dead. She sniffled, and held onto Fiyero’s arm tightly. He kissed her cheek in comfort.

Elphaba looked up at Glinda and froze. It was so weird to think that she was dead. She looked the picture of health, so beautiful right now.

  “I’m sorry we lost touch, Glin… I should have been a better friend to you, I shouldn’t have cast you aside like that. I’m so sorry, you were just trying to explain to me how you felt,” she sobbed. “I promise I will avenge you, I promise.”

She leaned down, and kissed the blonde’s cheek, but not before something caught her eye on Glinda’s throat.

Her eyes peered at the blonde’s neck for a bit, her heart turning cold in terror.

  “No, no it-it can’t be,” she whispered softly.

Fiyero heard her, and came over, looking worried.

  “What?” he asked, “What is it?” he implored, wondering if she felt ill.

  “Look,” whispered Elphaba, pointing to the blonde’s neck. “Fiyero, look at her throat.”

He leaned towards the casket and looked at Glinda’s throat, noticing the two puncture marks.

He looked back at Elphaba.

  “What does this mean?” he asked her, keeping his voice quiet.

 Elphaba took a moment to answer.

  “It means that the sickness is only the first part of the Wizard’s plan,” she said darkly.


End file.
